Cyanobacteria are the only prokaryotes to have evolved oxygenic photosynthesis,
transforming the biology and chemistry of our planet. Genomic and evolutionary studies …

Photosynthetic water oxidation by Photosystem II (PSII) is a fascinating process because it
sustains life on Earth and serves as a blue print for scalable synthetic catalysts required for …

The reconstruction of bacterial and archaeal genomes from shotgun metagenomes has
enabled insights into the ecology and evolution of environmental and host-associated …

Physical laws—such as the laws of motion, gravity, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics—
codify the general behavior of varied macroscopic natural systems across space and time …

The recent recovery of genomes for organisms from phyla with no isolated representative
(candidate phyla) via cultivation-independent genomics enabled delineation of major new …

Geological evidence indicates that grounded ice sheets reached sea level at all latitudes
during two long-lived Cryogenian (58 and≥ 5 My) glaciations. Combined uranium-lead and …

The classification of life forms into a hierarchical system (taxonomy) and the application of
names to this hierarchy (nomenclature) is at a turning point in microbiology. The …

The endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria during eukaryogenesis has long been viewed as
an adaptive response to the oxygenation of Earth's surface environment, presuming a …

Oxygenic phototrophs have played a fundamental role in Earth's history by enabling the rise
of atmospheric oxygen (O2) and paving the way for animal evolution. Understanding the …

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes that inhabit diverse aquatic and terrestrial
environments. However, the evolutionary mechanisms involved in the cyanobacterial habitat …