Author: Paul Ratner / Source: Big Think
- NASA-funded research says retinal, not chlorophyll, gave the early Earth its color
- The two pigments co-evolved but retinal came first
- We should be looking for retinal-based life throughout the Universe
Earth used to be a color the late musician Prince would approve of – a shade of purple.
Such is the intriguing possibility raised by new NASA-supported research which says a purple-tinged molecule called “retinal” likely gave the early Earth a distinct look. The idea also gives us a potential new direction in the search for planets similar to ours.If you walk outside, chances are, you’ll see a lot of green – sorry, desert-dwelling readers. This green found in nature is the result of photosynthesis – the process by which plants convert energy coming from the sun into useful chemical energy they need to live while producing oxygen for the rest of us. A key part of this process is the pigment chlorophyll which gives plants their green color. It absorbs energy from sunlight and uses it to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars.
Now a new study argues that retinal likely preceded chlorophyll as the dominant sunlight-absorbing molecule. The scientists focused their attention on retinal-containing proteins, especially ones like bacteriorhodopsin that absorb sunlight in the range inaccessible to chlorophyll. The biologists propose that retinal and…
The post Earth used to be purple, shows study appeared first on FeedBox.