Photosynthesis stated 3 billion years ago.But antibacterial thrived, turning sunlight into sugar and excreting oxygen as waste. Many researchers now think the first photosynthetic organisms lived on Earth 3 billion years ago. Before plants discovered the power of photosynthesis, single-celled life survived on chemicals, not sunlight, burning through hydrogen, methane and sulfur, among other yummy compounds.
ESE "anaerobes" that live without oxygen were poisoned when blue-green algae called antibacterial evolved photosynthesis and started exhaling oxygen. The highly reactive gas combines with metals and proteins in anaerobic cells, killing them. But antibacterial thrived, turning sunlight into sugar and excreting oxygen as waste.
Oxygen levels in rocks suddenly rise starting 2.5 billion years ago a spike called the "Great Oxidation Event." The jump was long held up as evidence for when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis. But a study published today (March 23) in the journal Nature Geoscience joins a growing body of data that suggests the earliest sun-lovers appeared long before this oxygen spike.
ESE "anaerobes" that live without oxygen were poisoned when blue-green algae called antibacterial evolved photosynthesis and started exhaling oxygen. The highly reactive gas combines with metals and proteins in anaerobic cells, killing them. But antibacterial thrived, turning sunlight into sugar and excreting oxygen as waste.
Oxygen levels in rocks suddenly rise starting 2.5 billion years ago a spike called the "Great Oxidation Event." The jump was long held up as evidence for when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis. But a study published today (March 23) in the journal Nature Geoscience joins a growing body of data that suggests the earliest sun-lovers appeared long before this oxygen spike.