They ARE black! Our eyes err. - Without joke: how about those plants that are not green? do they have a chlorophyl variation that is not green? or a different photosynth-mechsm? JM
On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 8:15 PM, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > I have long thought that plants should be black, too, for this reason. > Anyone know why not? > > > On 20 June 2014 11:40, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> 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 >> <https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/microbial-metabolism/phototrophy/bacteriorhodopsin/> >> [image: image] >> <https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/microbial-metabolism/phototrophy/bacteriorhodopsin/> >> Bacteriorhodopsin - Boundless Open Textbook >> <https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/microbial-metabolism/phototrophy/bacteriorhodopsin/> >> Bacteriorhodopsin acts a proton pump, generating cellular energy in a >> manner independent of chlorophyll. Read more about bacteriorhodopsin in the >> Bou... >> View on www.boundless.com >> <https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/microbial-metabolism/phototrophy/bacteriorhodopsin/> >> Preview by Yahoo >> >> 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 >> <https://www.boundless.com/definition/molecules/> 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 >> <https://www.boundless.com/definition/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 >> <https://www.boundless.com/definition/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 >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Everything List" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Everything List" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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