Biodiversity of ancestral photosynthetic microorganisms

Situazione iniziale

Early life on Earth developed in anoxic environments where ancient anoxygenic phototrophs, such as purple and green sulfur bacteria, thrived. Today these microorganisms survive only in rare niches combining light and absence of oxygen.
Deepening our understanding of these ancestral microbes is key to reconstructing the evolution of life on Earth and may also guide hypotheses about potential life forms on other planets.

Obiettivo

This study aims to isolate and characterize as many anoxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms as possible to expand genomic knowledge and better understand the evolutionary transition from anoxygenic to oxygenic photosynthesis. To achieve this, environmental samples and physicochemical parameters will be collected, followed by laboratory enrichment and isolation under strict anaerobic conditions. Genomic DNA will then be extracted, sequenced, and analyzed through bioinformatic pipelines.