ScienceDaily News Release: Photosynthesis Analysis Shows Work Of Ancient Genetic Engineering The analysis revealed clear evidence that photosynthesis did not evolve through a linear path of steady change and growing complexity but through a merging of evolutionary lines that brought together independently evolving chemical systems -- the swapping of blocks of genetic material among bacterial species known as horizontal gene transfer.
"We found that the photosynthesis-related genes in these organisms have not had all the same pathway of evolution. It's clear evidence for horizontal gene transfer," said Blankenship.