What bacteria traps the energy of sunlight in a manner similar to green plants?
Like green plants, the photosynthetic bacteria use the energy of sunlight to reduce carbon dioxide to carbohydrate. Unlike plants, however, they do not use water as a source of electrons. The purple sulfur bacteria and the green sulfur bacteria use hydrogen sulfide to supply the electrons needed to synthesize NADPH and ATP. In the process, they produce elemental sulfur (often stored as granules within the cell). 2H2S + CO2 -> (CH2O) + H2O + 2S The photosynthetic bacteria contain special types of chlorophylls (called bacteriochlorophylls) incorporated into membranes. With this machinery, they can run photosystem I but not photosystem II (which explains their inability to use water as a source of electrons).
