Microbesandredoxgeochemistry.ppt.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ocean-atmosphere through time Lyons, 2008, Science 321, p. 923-924. From Reinhard et al., 2009, Science Vol.326, p. 713 Earth’s Oceans @ 2.5 Ga From Reinhard et al., 2009, Science Vol.326, p. 713 Geomicrobiology Classification of life forms: Eukaryotic = Plants, animals, fungus, algae, and even protozoa Prokaryotic = archaea and bacteria Living cells can: Self-feed Replicate (grow) Differentiate (change in form/function) Communicate Evolve Can purely chemical systems do these things? All of these things? Why do we care to go through this ? Tree of life Diversity There are likely millions of different microbial species Scientists have identified and characterized ~10,000 of these Typical soils contain hundreds- thousands of different species Very extreme environments contain as little as a few different microbes Characterizing microbes Morphological and functional – what they look like and what they eat/breathe Based primarily on culturing – grow microbes on specific media – trying to get ‘pure’ culture Genetic – Determine sequence of the DNA or RNA – only need a part of this for good identification Probes – Based on genetic info, design molecule to stick to the DNA/RNA and be visible in a microscope Environmental limits on life Liquid H2O – life as we know it requires liquid water Redox gradient – conditions which limit this? Range of conditions for prokaryotes much more than that of eukaryotes – inactive stasis Spores can take a lot of abuse and last very long times Tougher living = less diversity Closer to the limits of life – Fewer microbes able to function Profiles and microbial habitats O2 H2S Concentration depth Fe2+ H2S O2 Org. C Org. C 1 2 3 4 Life requires redox disequilibrium!! Phototrophic mats - PSB Purple sulfur bacteria mats Respond to light level changes in minutes ? position in sediment and water column can vary significantly! Cell Metabolism Based on redox reactions Substrate (food) – electron is l