oldest evidence of photosynthesis

Study reveals the oldest evidence of photosynthesis

 The oldest evidence of photosynthetic structures 

reported to date has been identifi ed inside a collection 

of 1.75-billion-year-old microfossils.

 The discovery helps to shed light on the evolution of

oxygenic photosynthesis.

 Oxygenic photosynthesis, in which sunlight catalyzes 

the conversion of water and carbon dioxide into glucose 

and oxygen, is unique to cyanobacteria and related 

organelles within eukaryotes. 

 Cyanobacteria had an important role in the evolution 

of early life and were active during the Great Oxidation 

Event around 2.4 billion years ago, but the timings of 

the origins of oxygenic photosynthesis are debated owing to limited evidence.

 The microstructures are thylakoids; membrane-bound structures found inside the chloroplasts 

of plants and some modern cyanobacter