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Evolutionary biology

Out of thin air

The invention of oxygenic photosynthesis was a small step for a bacterium, but a giant leap for biology and geochemistry. So when and how did cells first learn to split water to make oxygen gas?

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Figure 1: The two photosystems in photosynthesis.

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Allen, J., Martin, W. Out of thin air. Nature 445, 610–612 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/445610a

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