Perhaps because the two mechanisms function quite differently and apparently
evolved independently. But I also sometimes wonder why in the many hundreds of
millions of years of time that no species has found a way to utilize the
missing chunk of spectrum.
A perfect plant would have jet black leaves -- and use photons across all
wavelengths of the spectrum. Then there truly would be black forests.
Chris
Bacteriorhodopsin - Boundless Open Textbook
Bacteriorhodopsin - Boundless Open Textbook
Bacteriorhodopsin acts a proton pump, generating cellular energy in a manner
independent of chlorophyll. Read more about bacteriorhodopsin in the Bou...
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Bacteriorhodopsin acts a proton pump, generating cellular energy in a manner
independent of chlorophyll.
KEY POINTS
* Bacteriorhodopsin is a proton pump found in Archaea, it takes light
energy and coverts it into chemical energy, ATP, that can be used by the cell
for cellular functions.
* Bacteriorhodopsin forms chains, which contain retinal molecule
within, it is the retinal molecule that absorbs a photon from light, it then
changes the confirmation of the nearby Bacteriorhodopsin protein, allowing it
to act as a proton pump.
* While chlorophyll based ATP generation depends on a protein gradient,
like bacteriorhodopsin, but with striking differences, suggesting that
phototrophy evolved in bacteria and archaea independently of each other.
[snip]
These [bacteriochlorophylls ] also produce a proton gradient, but in a quite
different and more indirect way involving an electron transfer chain consisting
of several other proteins. Furthermore, chlorophylls are aided in capturing
light energy by other pigments known as "antennas"; these are not present in
bacteriorhodopsin-based systems. Last, chlorophyll-based phototrophy is coupled
to carbon fixation (the incorporation of carbon dioxide into larger organic
molecules) and for that reason is photosynthesis, which is not true for
bacteriorhodopsin-based system.
________________________________
From: meekerdb <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2014 10:51 AM
Subject: Re: Solar power's "bright future" [ may be brighter thanks to us aping
the quantum trickery of certain algae (cryptophytes specifically)]
On 6/18/2014 3:15 PM, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List wrote:
>>But it does illustrate the way evolution can get stuck in a local
>optima. And also further evidence that any purported Creator
must be
>completely incompetent.
>
>
>Evolution always must begin with a preexisting platform -- so to speak -- and
>builds on top of it (in an evolutionary way).
Yes, I'd heard the story about the purple bacteriodopsin that used the middle
part of the visible spectrum. But the implication is that these bacteria were
shading the bacteria or algae that developed chlorophyll. Which might be true,
but they've not been shading them for the last billion years or so since plants
came onto the land. So I don't see it has a local optimum. There's a big
chunk of spectrum right there adjacent to the spectrum being used. There
doesn't seem to be any significant barrier.
Brent
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