Chlorophyll F found in ancient bacteria to help algae grow more efficiently
20 August 2010 | Alternative Energy | No Comments
Until now, researchers only knew four types of chlorophyll used by plants in photosynthesis process. But, recently they said they found at Shark Bay on the Western Australian coast a new type of chlorophyll in ancient bacteria, that could provide new ways to grow algae (used to create biofuel) more efficiently.
The new type of chlorophyll found in stromatolites (layered structures of cyanobacteria living in shallow waters) could make a better use of available light. “That makes this new discovery the reddest chlorophyll to be identified so far…It was found deeper in the stromatolite structure, which explains why it needs the longer wavelengths of light for photosynthesis.”, said professor Robert Willows of Sydney’s Macquarie University.
When researchers made this discovery, they actually wanted to find Chlorophyll D which also absorbs light in the infrared. But after they made some research on the fifth type of chlorophyll newly discovered, they found that it can absorb much more red light of the spectrum.
“Light at longer wavelengths can’t split water to make oxygen. There are other bacteria chlorophylls that do absorb further into the infrared, but they can’t make oxygen and so haven’t been successfully used in plants…The bacteria producing chlorophyll F look indistinguishable from stromatolite bacteria fossils found in the Western Australian Pilbara region. These have been dated back some three billion years and represent some of the Earth’s earliest life forms.”, said professor Robert Willows.
Tags: algae biofuel, ancient bacteria, Chlorophyll F, infrared spectrum, photosynthesis, stromatolites