A likely role for anoxygenic photosynthetic microbes in the formation of ancient stromatolites
- Creators
- Bosak, T.
- Greene, S. E.
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Newman, D. K.
Abstract
Although cyanobacteria are the dominant primary producers in modern stromatolites and other microbialites, the oldest stromatolites pre-date geochemical evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis and cyanobacteria in the rock record. As a step towards the development of laboratory models of stromatolite growth, we tested the potential of a metabolically ancient anoxygenic photosynthetic bacterium to build stromatolites. This organism, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, stimulates the precipitation of calcite in solutions already highly saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, and greatly facilitates the incorporation of carbonate grains into proto-lamina (i.e. crusts). The appreciable stimulation of the growth of proto-lamina by a nonfilamentous anoxygenic microbe suggests that similar microbes may have played a greater role in the formation of Archean stromatolites than previously assumed.
Additional Information
© 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Received 25 August 2006; accepted 10 January 2007. We thank the Agouron Institute, Packard Foundation, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute for financial support and our reviewers for their helpful comments.Attached Files
Accepted Version - nihms158376.pdf
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC2947360
- Eprint ID
- 38001
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1472-4669.2007.00104.x
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130417-155449511
- Agouron Institute
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
- Created
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2013-04-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences