Is Constitutive Red-shift An Advantage For Oxygenic Photosynthesis Under M-dwarf Starlight? Insights From Acaryochloris marina sp. str. Moss Beach

In the next years, several space missions will search for evidence of life on exoplanets, focusing on robust biosignatures associated with oxygenic photosynthesis, including atmospheric oxygen accumulation and the Vegetation Red-Edge in surface reflectance spectra.

Many potentially habitable rocky exoplanets orbit M-dwarf stars, whose spectral energy distribution may challenge oxygenic photosynthesis. Differently from the Sun, M-dwarf stars emit predominantly far-red (700-750 nm) and infrared (750-1000 nm) light, and relatively little visible (400-700 nm) radiation, which constitutes photosynthetically active radiation.

Some organisms have been found to photosynthesize under such spectrum but less efficiently than under solar light, as their photosynthetic apparatus evolved to harvest visible light emitted by the Sun. Around M-dwarfs, such different irradiation might have selected adaptations optimized for harvesting far-red / infra-red light.

On Earth, similar selection can be found in Acaryochloris marina strains, constitutively presenting high chlorophyll d content in photosystem II & I, with in vivo absorption peaks beyond 700 nm. Here we tested the Moss Beach strain under a simulated M-dwarf spectrum and a simulated primeval atmosphere – anoxic and enriched in carbon dioxide.

Results underline how this permanently red-shifted photosynthetic apparatus does not require acclimation to the stellar spectrum and enables for a strong growth and oxygen production, higher than under simulated solar light.

Moreover, cells reflectance spectrum highlights a shift of the canonical red-edge toward longer wavelengths, resulting in a Chl d-near-infrared edge, suggesting a similar metabolism on exoplanets orbiting M-dwarfs could successfully produce both a gaseous biosignature and a characteristic surface biosignature.

Is constitutive red-shift an advantage for oxygenic photosynthesis under M-dwarf starlight? Insights from Acaryochloris marina sp. str. Moss Beach, biorxiv.org

Astrobiology,