Cited by 83Photosynthetic Processes and MechanismsProtist diversity and phylogenyGenomics and Phylogenetic Studies

Dating phototrophic microbial lineages with reticulate gene histories

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Magnabosco, C., Moore, K. R., Wolfe, J. M., Fournier, G. P.·2018·Geobiology

Abstract

Phototrophic bacteria are among the most biogeochemically significant organisms on Earth and are physiologically related through the use of reaction centers to collect photons for energy metabolism. However, the major phototrophic lineages are not closely related to one another in bacterial phylogeny, and the origins of their respective photosynthetic machinery remain obscured by time and low sequence similarity. To better understand the co‐evolution of Cyanobacteria and other ancient anoxygenic phototrophic lineages with respect to geologic time, we designed and implemented a variety of molecular clocks that use horizontal gene transfer (HGT) as additional, relative constraints. These HGT constraints improve the precision of phototroph divergence date estimates and indicate that stem green non‐sulfur bacteria are likely the oldest phototrophic lineage. Concurrently, crown Cyanobacteria age estimates ranged from 2.2 Ga to 2.7 Ga, with stem Cyanobacteria diverging ~2.8 Ga. These estimates provide a several hundred Ma window for oxygenic photosynthesis to evolve prior to the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) ~2.3 Ga. In all models, crown green sulfur bacteria diversify after the loss of the banded iron formations from the sedimentary record (~1.8 Ga) and may indicate the expansion of the lineage into a new ecological niche following the GOE. Our date estimates also provide a timeline to investigate the temporal feasibility of different photosystem HGT events between phototrophic lineages. Using this approach, we infer that stem Cyanobacteria are unlikely to be the recipient of an HGT of photosystem I proteins from green sulfur bacteria but could still have been either the HGT donor or the recipient of photosystem II proteins with green non‐sulfur bacteria, prior to the GOE. Together, these results indicate that HGT‐constrained molecular clocks are useful tools for the evaluation of various geological and evolutionary hypotheses, using the evolutionary histories of both genes and organismal lineages.

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  • Most studies suggest an earlier Paleoarchean or Mesoarchean age for oxygenic photosynthesis.

    “While some argue that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved only 50 to 100 Ma before the GOE (115), most studies suggest an earlier Paleoarchean or Mesoarchean age [e.g., (3, 118, 119)].”

    From The Archean atmosphere (2020) · cites this paper as [119]

    The Results and Discussion section (page unavailable) dates stem Cyanobacteria to about 2.8 Ga and says that this allows time for oxygenic photosynthesis to evolve before the GOE. It does not date the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis itself to the Paleoarchean or Mesoarchean, or establish that most studies favor those ages. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Cardona, T., Sanchez‐Baracaldo, P., Rutherford, A. W., & Larkum, A. (2017). Molecular evidence for the early evolution of photosynthetic water oxidation. bioRxiv, 109447 https://doi.org/10.1101/109447 · DOI

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Authors
Magnabosco, C., Moore, K. R., Wolfe, J. M., & Fournier, G. P.
Affiliations
  • Simons Foundation (US)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Corresponding author
Magnabosco, C.
Venue
Geobiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2018-01-31
Volume
16
Issue
2
Pages
179-189
ISSN
  • 1472-4669 (ISSN-L)
  • 1472-4677
OpenAlex
W2791650506
Cited by
83
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 9
FWCI
4.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Geobiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Wiley eBooks
  • ETH Zürich Research Collection (cc-by)
Funders
  • Simons Foundation (339603)
  • National Science Foundation (EAR‐1615426)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
Keywords
phototrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria, green sulfur bacteria, horizontal gene transfer, molecular clock, divergence time estimation, photosystem I, photosystem II, Great Oxidation Event, banded iron formations, reaction center, anoxygenic photosynthesis
MeSH terms
Cyanobacteria, Evolution, Molecular, Chlorobi, Gene Transfer, Horizontal, Chloroflexi, Phototrophic Processes, Metabolic Networks and Pathways

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