- by Greg Watry
- November 13, 2017
How did plants develop photosynthesis? The story is really nothing more than a tale of biological thievery.
Publishing in The Plant Cell, Lagarias and his colleagues found that a pigment called biliverdin is essential to light-induced chlorophyll production in the alga. This discovery is helping scientists understand why diverse algae retain these pigments, although many lack phytochromes.