Sunlight is a primary source of energy for life. However, its UV component causes DNA damage. We suggest that the strong UV component of sunlight contributed to the selective pressure for the evolution of the specialized photoreceptor cryptochrome from photolyases involved in DNA repair and propose that early metazoans avoided irradiation by descending in the oceans during the daytime. We suggest further that it is not coincidental that blue-light photoreception evolved in an aquatic environment, since only blue light can penetrate to substantial depths in water. These photoreceptors were then also critical for sensing the decreased luminescence that signals the coming of night and the time to return to the surface. The oceans and the 24-h light-dark cycle therefore provided an optimal setting for an early evolutionary relationship between blue-light photoreception and circadian rhythmicity.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 May 2020.
All research outputs
#10,540,461
of 32,071,872 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Molecular Evolution
#560
of 1,710 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#28,396
of 71,456 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Molecular Evolution
#12
of 19 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,071,872 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 66th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,710 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 71,456 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 59% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 19 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
