Photoautotroph

[2] Although the end of the Great Oxidation Event was marked by a significant decrease in gross primary productivity that eclipsed extinction events,[3] the development of aerobic respiration enabled more energetic metabolism of organic molecules, leading to symbiogenesis and the evolution of eukaryotes, and allowing the diversification of complex life on Earth.

Prokaryotic photoautotrophs include Cyanobacteria, Pseudomonadota, Chloroflexota, Acidobacteriota, Chlorobiota, Bacillota, Gemmatimonadota, and Eremiobacterota.

[5] The most recent hypothesis suggests that PSI and PSII diverged from an unknown common ancestor with a protein complex that was coded by one gene.

[4] Eukaryotic photoautotrophs include red algae, haptophytes, stramenopiles, cryptophytes, chlorophytes, and land plants.

[6] These organisms perform photosynthesis through organelles called chloroplasts and are believed to have originated about 2 billion years ago.