地球上最早的生命和外星生命可能都是紫色的_BEC初级作文

地球上最早的生命和外星生命可能都是紫色的

chlorophyll ['klɔːrəfɪl; 'klɒ-]: n.叶绿素

That "something else" would be simple organisms that captured solar energy with a molecule called retinal. Retinal pigments absorb green light best. They're not as efficient as chlorophylls in capturing solar energy, but they are simpler, the researchers wrote in their new paper.

这种“其他生物体”可能是通过一种被称为视黄醛的分子捕获太阳能量的简单生物体。视黄醛色素能够最大程度地吸收绿光。研究人员在新发表的论文中写道，视黄醛色素在获取太阳能量时的效率不如叶绿素，但它们更为简单。

Retinal light-harvesting is still widespread today among bacteria and the single-celled organisms called Archaea. These purple organisms have been discovered everywhere from the oceans to the Antarctic Dry Valley to the surfaces of leaves, Schwieterman told Live Science. Retinal pigments are also found in the visual system of more complex animals.

以视黄醛采集光能的方式今天在细菌和被称为“古细菌”的单细胞生物体中仍然十分普遍。施维特曼告诉美国趣味科学网站说，从海洋到南极洲干谷再到植物叶子表面，到处都发现过这种紫色生物体。视黄醛色素也存在于较为复杂的动物视觉系统中。

The appearance of the pigments across many living organisms hints that they may have evolved very early on, in ancestors common to many branches of the tree of life, the researchers wrote. There is even some evidence that modern purple-pigmented salt-loving organisms called halophiles might be related to some of the earliest life on Earth, which thrived around methane vents in the ocean, Schwieterman said.