Oxygen-producing photosynthesis must have evolved before the pervasive oxidation of the atmosphere around 2.4 billion years ago, but how long before is unclear. Geochemical analyses of ancient sedimentary rocks now suggest that cyanobacteria generated oxygen at least 3 billion years ago.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
The circadian clock and darkness control natural competence in cyanobacteria
Nature Communications Open Access 03 April 2020
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Rasmussen, B., Fletcher, I. R., Brocks, J. J. & Kilburn, M. R. Nature 455, 1101–1104 (2008).
French, K. L. et al. Mineral. Mag. 77, 1110 (2013).
Planavsky, N. J. et al. Nature Geosci. 7, 283–286 (2014).
Holland, H. D. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 361, 903–915 (2006).
Kaufman, A. J. et al. Science 317, 1900–1903 (2007).
Anbar, A. D. et al. Science 317, 1903–1906 (2007).
Czaja, A. D. et al. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 86, 118–137 (2012).
Johnson, J. E. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 11238–11243 (2013).
Buick, R. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363, 2731–2743 (2008).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaufman, A. Cyanobacteria at work. Nature Geosci 7, 253–254 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2128
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2128
This article is cited by
-
The circadian clock and darkness control natural competence in cyanobacteria
Nature Communications (2020)