Phycobilisomes are light-harvesting antennae that transmit the energy of harvested photons to photosystem II and photosystem I in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of red algae and glaucophytes. They were lost during the evolution of the chloroplasts of green algae and plants.
The layout of protein subunits in a phycobilisome.
Cyanobacteria, also called Cyanobacteriota or Cyanophyta, are a phylum of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via photosynthesis. The name 'cyanobacteria' refers to their color, which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blue-green algae, although they are not scientifically classified as algae. They appear to have originated in a freshwater or terrestrial environment.
Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria are found almost everywhere. Sea spray containing marine microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, can be swept high into the atmosphere where they become aeroplankton, and can travel the globe before falling back to earth.
Prochlorococcus, an influential marine cyanobacterium which produces much of the world's oxygen
Unicellular and colonial cyanobacteria. scale bars about 10 μm