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Summary: Genome complexity in a lean, mean
photosynthetic machine
John M. Archibald*
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Program in Evolutionary Biology, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
Dalhousie University, Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, 5850 College Street, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 1X5
P
hotosynthetic organisms come in
all shapes and sizes. From a hu-
man perspective, the trees and
plants of dry land are the most
conspicuous examples, but the next time
you admire a colorful tulip or marvel at
the girth of a giant Sequoia, consider
the following: Approximately half of the
oxygen we breathe is generated by single-
celled photosynthesizers, phytoplankton,
adrift in the world's oceans, invisible to
the naked eye and unfathomably large
in number, quietly harnessing solar en-
ergy, fixing carbon dioxide, and produc-
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