Origin of microbial biomineralization and magnetotaxis during the Archean

Collapse authors list.
Lin, Wei, Paterson, Greig A ORCID: 0000-0002-6864-7420, Zhu, Qiyun, Wang, Yinzhao, Kopylova, Evguenia, Li, Ying, Knight, Rob, Bazylinski, Dennis A, Zhu, Rixiang, Kirschvink, Joseph L et al (show 1 more authors) and Pan, Yongxin (2017) Origin of microbial biomineralization and magnetotaxis during the Archean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 114 (9). pp. 2171-2176.

Access the full-text of this item by clicking on the Open Access link.

Text
Lin et al., 2017, Origin of microbial biomineralization and magnetotaxis during the Archean.pdf - Published version
Download (9MB)

Official URL: https://www.pnas.org/content/114/9/2171

Abstract

Microbes that synthesize minerals, a process known as microbial biomineralization, contributed substantially to the evolution of current planetary environments through numerous important geochemical processes. Despite its geological significance, the origin and evolution of microbial biomineralization remain poorly understood. Through combined metagenomic and phylogenetic analyses of deep-branching magnetotactic bacteria from the Nitrospirae phylum, and using a Bayesian molecular clock-dating method, we show here that the gene cluster responsible for biomineralization of magnetosomes, and the arrangement of magnetosome chain(s) within cells, both originated before or near the Archean divergence between the Nitrospirae and Proteobacteria. This phylogenetic divergence occurred well before the Great Oxygenation Event. Magnetotaxis likely evolved due to environmental pressures conferring an evolutionary advantage to navigation via the geomagnetic field. Earth’s dynamo must therefore have been sufficiently strong to sustain microbial magnetotaxis in the Archean, suggesting that magnetotaxis coevolved with the geodynamo over geological time.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Archean, microbial biomineralization, magnetotaxis, magnetotactic bacteria, geodynamo
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2018 14:45
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 06:42
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.1614654114
Open Access URL:	http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1614654114
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3016841