Biogeochemical fingerprinting of magnetotactic bacterial magnetite.

ABSTRACT: Biominerals are important archives of the presence of life and environmental processes in the geological record. However, ascribing a clear biogenic nature to minerals with nanometer-sized dimensions has proven challenging. Identifying hallmark features of biologically controlled mineralization is particularly important for the case of magnetite crystals, resembling those produced by magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), which have been used as evidence of early prokaryotic life on Earth and in meteorites. We show here that magnetite produced by MTB displays a clear coupled C-N signal that is absent in abiogenic and/or biomimetic (protein-mediated) nanometer-sized magnetite. We attribute the presence of this signal to intracrystalline organic components associated with proteins involved in magneto

SUBMITTER: Perez-Huerta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9351444 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature