Green Microbes at the Bottom of the Ocean

UBC researcher J. Thomas Beatty and his colleagues recently made the unique discovery of a bacterium that uses the low level light given off by hydrothermal vents deep below the ocean's surface to fuel photosynthetic reactions. The bacterium, which lives at depths of 2,400 meters, uses a sophisticated antenna system to capture the dim light generated by the vents.

Link: Bacteria Pull Off Photosynthesis sans Sunlight from Scientific American

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 5:50 PM on July 21, 2005

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