Gloeomargarita lithophora
Species of bacterium / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gloeomargarita lithophora is a cyanobacterium, and is the proposed sister of the endosymbiotic plastids in the eukaryote group Archaeplastida (glaucophytes, plants, green and red algae). Gloeomargarita's relative would have ended up in an ancestral archaeplastid through a singular endosymbiotic event some 1900-1400 million years ago, after which it was recruited by the euglenids and some members of the SAR supergroup.[1][2]
Gloeomargarita lithophora | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | |
Phylum: | |
Order: | Gloeomargaritales |
Family: | Gloeomargaritaceae |
Genus: | Gloeomargarita |
Species: | G. lithophora |
Binomial name | |
Gloeomargarita lithophora | |
The origin of plastids by endosymbiosis signifies the beginning of photosynthesis in eukaryotes,[3] and as such their evolutionary relationship to Gloeomargarita lithophora, perhaps as a direct divergent,[2] is of high importance to the evolutionary history of photosynthesis. Gloeomargarita appears to be related to a (basal) Synechococcus branch.[4][5][6][verification needed][clarification needed] A similar endosymbiotic event occurred about 500 million years ago, with another Synechococcus related bacteria appearing in Paulinella chromatophora.[6]