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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Current Biology

Oxygen in photosymbiosis evolution

  • Loïc Quevarec
  • Clément Car
  • Gaël Brasseur
  • Christophe Robaglia
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Abstract

O2 is now essential for the survival and growth of a large part of organisms. Although the current atmosphere is rich in O2 due to the action of photosynthetic organisms, this was not the case in the past, and even now many existing ecosystems are oxygen-poor. Under these conditions, appropriating a continuous source of O2 through photosymbiosis can represent an important selective advantage. In this review, we first present the advantages that hosts can gain from O2 production by photosymbionts. However, O2 production is also associated with oxidative stress, and we discuss how organisms hosting phototrophs have evolved a wide range of strategies to control these effects. Secondly, we examine how existing hypoxic areas are relevant ecosystems for observing the evolution of early and current photosymbiosis, and how photosynthetic O2 can drive their evolution.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{quevarec2026oxygen,
  title = {{Oxygen in photosymbiosis evolution}},
  author = {Loïc Quevarec and Clément Car and Gaël Brasseur and Christophe Robaglia},
  journal = {Current Biology},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2026.07.060},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05763263v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Oxygen in photosymbiosis evolution
AU  - Loïc Quevarec
AU  - Clément Car
AU  - Gaël Brasseur
AU  - Christophe Robaglia
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/21
JO  - Current Biology
DO  - 10.1016/j.cub.2026.07.060
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05763263v1
AB  - O2 is now essential for the survival and growth of a large part of organisms. Although the current atmosphere is rich in O2 due to the action of photosynthetic organisms, this was not the case in the past, and even now many existing ecosystems are oxygen-poor. Under these conditions, appropriating a continuous source of O2 through photosymbiosis can represent an important selective advantage. In this review, we first present the advantages that hosts can gain from O2 production by photosymbionts. However, O2 production is also associated with oxidative stress, and we discuss how organisms hosting phototrophs have evolved a wide range of strategies to control these effects. Secondly, we examine how existing hypoxic areas are relevant ecosystems for observing the evolution of early and current photosymbiosis, and how photosynthetic O2 can drive their evolution.
SN  - 0960-9822
SN  - 1879-0445
ER  -