ENCYCLOPEDIA of GEOBIOLOGY Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

ENCYCLOPEDIA of GEOBIOLOGY Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ENCYCLOPEDIA of GEOBIOLOGY Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GEOBIOLOGY Volume Editors Joachim Reitner is Professor of Paleontology, Head of the Department of Geobiology, and Managing Director of the Museum, Collections and Geopark, at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences (Springer), Co-Editor of Facies (Springer), and Associate Editor of the Geomicrobiology Journal (Taylor & Francis). Dr. Reitner’s research focuses on the interplay between organ- isms and their metabolic processes with various abiotic parameters. Many geological processes can be understood as geo-physiological processes, allowing chemical reactions to proceed that would never occur under standard thermodynamic conditions. Therefore, a major thrust of Dr. Reitner’s research is the investigation of the evolution of these processes, which are visible in biosignatures and biomineralization patterns, and in their interaction with biogeochemical cycles. Among his many honors and accolades, Dr. Reitner is the recipient of the G. W. Leibniz Award from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Volker Thiel is Professor of Organic Geochemistry in the Geoscience Center at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Dr. Thiel has been involved in geobiological research for some 15 years, with a focus on the use of organic molecules as chemical tracers (biomarkers) for biogeochemical path- ways. His research interests include lipid biomarkers as indicators for biogeochemical processes, molecular fossils, biological formation, and turn- over of methane, and microbial control on mineral formation. The results of his studies have significantly contributed to the characterization of microbial processes associated with methane turnover in modern and ancient environments. Much of Dr. Thiel’s current work is devoted to new approaches to enhance the spatial resolution of biomarker analysis in geobiological systems. He is member of the Editorial Board of the journal Geobiology (Wiley-Blackwell). Editorial Board Hans-Joachim Fritz Pamela Reid Courant Research Centre Geobiology Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science University of Göttingen University of Miami Goldschmidtstr.3 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy 37077 Göttingen Miami FL 33149 Germany USA Andreas Kappler Xingliang Zhang Center for Applied Geoscience (ZAG) Department of Geology Sigwartstraße 10 Northwest University 72076 Tübingen Xian 710069 Germany China Kurt O. Konhauser Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences University of Alberta, Edmonton Alberta, T6G 2E3 Canada Aims of the Series The Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series provides comprehensive and authoritative coverage of all the main areas in the Earth Sciences. Each volume comprises a focused and carefully chosen collection of contributions from leading names in the subject, with copious illustrations and reference lists. These books represent one of the world’s leading resources for the Earth Sciences community. Previous volumes are being updated and new works published so that the volumes will continue to be essential reading for all professional earth scientists, geologists, geophysicists, climatolo- gists, and oceanographers as well as for teachers and students. See http://www.springer.com for a current list of titles in the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series.Gotohttp://www.springerlink.com/reference-works/ to visit the “Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series” on-line. About the Series Editor Professor Charles W. Finkl has edited and/or contributed to more than 8 volumes in the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. For the past 25 years he has been the Executive Director of the Coastal Education & Research Foundation (CERF) and Editor-in-Chief of the international Journal of Coastal Research. In addition to these duties, he is Research Professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, USA. He is a graduate of the University of Western Australia (Perth) and previously worked for a wholly owned Australian subsidiary of the International Nickel Company of Canada (INCO). During his career, he acquired field experience in Australia; the Caribbean; South America; SW Pacific islands; south- ern Africa; Western Europe; and the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and Southeast USA. Founding Series Editor Professor Rhodes W. Fairbridge (deceased) has edited more than 24 Encyclopedias in the Earth Sciences Series. During his career he has worked as a petroleum geologist in the Middle East, been a WW II intelligence officer in the SW Pacific and led expeditions to the Sahara, Arctic Canada, Arctic Scandinavia, Brazil and New Guinea. He was Emeritus Professor of Geology at Columbia University and was affiliated with the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EARTH SCIENCES SERIES ENCYCLOPEDIA of GEOBIOLOGY edited by JOACHIM REITNER VOLKER THIEL University of Göttingen Germany Library of Congress Control Number: 2010936497 ISBN: 978-1-4020-9211-4 This publication is available also as: Electronic publication under ISBN 978-1-4020-9212-1 and Print and electronic bundle under ISBN 978-1-4020-9213-8 Published by Springer P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands Printed on acid-free paper Cover illustration: Iron- and sulfide-oxidizing microbial mats in the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Oskarshamn, Sweden (photograph by Joachim Reitner) Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the figures and tables which have been reproduced from other sources. Anyone who has not been properly credited is requested to contact the publishers, so that due acknowledgment may be made in subsequent editions. All Rights Reserved © Springer Science þ Business Media B.V. 2011 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Contents Contributors xiii Animal Biocalcification, Evolution 53 Gert Wörheide and Daniel J. Jackson Preface xxvii Animal Skeletons, Advent 58 Acetogens 1 Guoxiang Li, Maoyan Zhu and Zhe Chen Kirsten Küsel and Harold L. Drake Acid Rock Drainage 5 Archaea 64 Lesley A. Warren Volker Thiel Acidophiles 8 Arsenic 69 John F. Stolz and Ronald S. Oremland Acritarchs 8 Asteroid and Comet Impacts 69 Charles S. Cockell Aerobic Metabolism 8 Heribert Cypionka Astrobiology 73 Jack D. Farmer Algae (Eukaryotic) 10 Thomas Friedl, Nicole Brinkmann and Kathrin I. Mohr Bacteria 81 Michael Hoppert Alkalinity 20 Andreas Reimer and Gernot Arp Bacterioplankton 89 Thomas Pommier Amber 24 Eugenio Ragazzi and Alexander R. Schmidt Banded Iron Formations 92 Nicole R. Posth, Kurt O. Konhauser and Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane with Sulfate 36 Andreas Kappler Katrin Knittel and Antje Boetius Basalt (Glass, Endoliths) 103 Anaerobic Transformation Processes, Microbiology 48 Ingunn H. Thorseth Bernhard Schink Beggiatoa 111 Anammox 53 Heide N. Schulz-Vogt Entries without author names are glossary terms vi CONTENTS Biodeterioration (of Stone) 112 Calcite Precipitation, Microbially Induced 223 Christina Beimforde Tanja Bosak Bioerosion 117 Calcium Biogeochemistry 227 Aline Tribollet, Gudrun Radtke and Anton Eisenhauer Stjepko Golubic Cap Carbonates 229 Biofilms 134 Joachim Reitner Joachim Reitner Carbon (Organic, Cycling) 230 Biofilms and Fossilization 136 Amber K. Hardison and Elizabeth A. Canuel Joachim Reitner Carbon (Organic, Degradation) 234 Biogeochemical Cycles 137 Steven T. Petsch Biological Control on Diagenesis: Influence Carbon Cycle 238 of Bacteria and Relevance to Ocean Acidification 137 Carbon Isotopes 238 Fred T. Mackenzie and Andreas J. Andersson Carbonate Environments 238 Biological Volcanic Rock Weathering 143 Eberhard Gischler Charles S. Cockell Carbonates 261 Biomarkers (Molecular Fossils) 147 Martin Dietzel Jochen J. Brocks and Kliti Grice Cathodoluminescence Microscopy 266 Biomarkers (Organic, Compound-Specific Walter Vortisch Isotopes) 167 Kliti Grice and Jochen J. Brocks Chemolithotrophy 271 Volker Thiel Biomining (Mineral Bioleaching, Mineral Biooxidation) 182 Cherts 272 Douglas Eric Rawlings Volker Thiel Bioprotection 185 Chondrites 273 Carlos Rodriguez-Navarro, Maria T. González-Muñoz, Concepción Chroococcidiopsis 273 Jimenez-Lopez and Manuel Rodriguez-Gallego Burkhard Büdel Biosignatures in Rocks 189 Clay Authigenesis, Bacterial 274 Frances Westall and Barbara Cavalazzi Kurt O. Konhauser Biosilicification 201 Coccolithophores 277 Volker Thiel Black Shales 201 Wolfgang Oschmann Cold Seeps 278 Robert G. Jenkins Breakup of Rodinia 206 Zheng-Xiang Li Comets 290 Calcareous Algae 211 Commensalism 290 Calcification 211 Community 290 Calcified Cyanobacteria 211 Copper 290 Robert Riding Stephan M. Kraemer CONTENTS vii Cosmic Molecular Clouds 292 Endoliths 348 Joachim Reitner Bettina Weber and Burkhard Büdel Critical Intervals in Earth History 293 Endosymbiosis 355 Frank Wiese and Joachim Reitner Evaporites 355 Cryobiosphere 306 Exoenzymes 355 Cyanobacteria 306 Kathrin Riedel and Alexander Grunau Kathrin I. Mohr, Nicole Brinkmann and Thomas Friedl Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) 359 Alan W. Decho Deep Biosphere of Salt Deposits 313 Helga Stan-Lotter and Sergiu Fendrihan Extreme Environments 362 Volker Thiel Deep Biosphere of Sediments 317 Fe(II)-Oxidizing Prokaryotes 367 Deep Biosphere of the Oceanic
Recommended publications
  • GTL PI Meeting 2003 Presentation Nealson
    USCUSC Geobiology Astrobiology Ken Nealson Wrigley Professor of Geobiology USC SHEWANELLA and Genomes to Life !! THE FUTURE!! WHERE ARE WE GOING? HOW WILL WE GET THERE? WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES AND TRAPS? USCUSC Geobiology Astrobiology Genomes to Life: Shewanella and the future !! Genomes & Genomics: For sake of this discussion, I include Genome composition, gene expression, & metabolism Genomics Physiology Ecophsyiology Ecology Predictable Community Behavior Successful Manipulation of Natural Communities USCUSC Geobiology Astrobiology Shewanella in the future: Short Term: Genomic/Proteomic/Metabolic Connections Linkage of physiology to genomic information Mid Term: Ecophysiology Questions regarding regulation of MR-1 How does the cell”work”? Linkage of laboratory to microcosm and field data Long Term: Community structure and activities Genetic variability and use of genomic approaches Predictable community ecology The “old view” of Shewanella oneidensis Gamma Purple proteobacteria MR-1; when Isolated was One of ~10, Now >50 ! USCUSC Geobiology Astrobiology The “new view” of Shewanella Now MR-1 is again one of 1, although a strain of S. benthica is almost finished by a Japanese group (JAMSTEC) USCUSC Geobiology Astrobiology Excitement of the “new view”: May be able to use this information to dissect specific aspects of both ecology and evolution: Ecology: Involved in many different redox processes Aerobic and anaerobic niches Metal cycling connected with carbon cycling Potential for dealing with many toxic metals and radionuclides Can we understand Shewanella well enough to begin to use it? what it does how it does it how it regulates how it interacts with other organisms All of this well enough to make predictions that work.
    [Show full text]
  • Foundations of Complex Life: Evolution, Preservation and Detection on Earth and Beyond
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Astrobiology Institute Annual Science Report 2016 Team Report: Foundations of Complex Life: Evolution, Preservation and Detection on Earth and Beyond, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Foundations of Complex Life Evolution, Preservation and Detection on Earth and Beyond Lead Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Team Overview Foundations of Complex Life is a research project investigating the early evolution and preservation of complex life on Earth. We seek insight into the early evolution and preservation of complex life by refining our ability to identify evidence of environmental and biological change in the late Mesoproterozoic to Neoproterozoic eras. Better understanding how signatures of life and environment are preserved will guide how and where to look for evidence for life elsewhere in the universe—directly supporting the Curiosity mission on Mars and helping set strategic goals for future explorations of the Solar System and studies of the early Earth. Our Team pursues these questions under five themes: I. The earliest history of animals: We use methods from molecular biology, experimental taphonomy, and paleontology to explore what caused the early divergence of animals. Principal Investigator: II. Paleontology, sedimentology, and geochemistry: We track the origin of complex Roger Summons protists and animals from their biologically simple origins by documenting the stratigraphy, isotopic records, and microfossil assemblages of well-preserved rock successions from 1200 to 650 million years ago. III. A preservation-induced oxygen tipping point: We investigate how changes in the preservation of organic carbon may have driven the Neoproterozoic oxygenation of the oceans coincident with the appearance of complex life.
    [Show full text]
  • Thoughts in Geobiology
    Journal of Geology and Mining Research Vol. 1(8), October, 2009 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/jgmr ISSN 2006 – 9766 © 2009 Academic Journals Editorial Thoughts in Geobiology One of the possible ways to make connection between geologists and biologists is through studying subjects related to the newly established trend “Geobiology”. In the year 1972, Sylvester-Bradley stated that the Earth sciences include not only geology, but the hybrid-sciences geophysics, geochemistry and geobiology, of which the most complex and least rigorous is geobiology. Kump (2008) simply defined geobiology as the field that has recently energized the life and Earth sciences as geologists and biologists bring new tools to collaborations addressing fundamental problems that transcend the disciplines. The book edited by Xiao and Kaufman (2007) includes a set of multidisciplinary reviews on the Neoproterozoic fossil record (animals, algae, acritarchs, protists, and trace fossils), evolutionary developmental biology of animals, molecular clock estimates of phylogenetic divergences, and Neoproterozoic chemostratigraphy and sedimentary geology. The editors of this book believe that these topics are of continuing interest to geoscientists and bioscientists who are intrigued by the deep history of the Earth and its inhabitants. Yildirim et al. (2008) believe that microbial systems in extreme environments and in the deep biosphere may be analogous to potential life on other planetary bodies and hence may be used to investigate the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. I would add that astrobiologists are working on this point through studying materials from Mars. Through geobiology we search for origins and evolution of life, atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere, reasons of mass extinctions, interactions between microbes and minerals, global changes, and other subjects of interest.
    [Show full text]
  • Rowan C. Martindale Curriculum Vitae Associate Professor (Invertebrate Paleontology) at the University of Texas at Austin
    ROWAN C. MARTINDALE CURRICULUM VITAE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY) AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN Department of Geological Sciences E-mail: [email protected] Jackson School of Geosciences Website: www.jsg.utexas.edu/martindale/ 2275 Speedway Stop C9000 Orchid ID: 0000-0003-2681-083X Austin, TX 78712-1722 Phone: 512-475-6439 Office: JSG 3.216A RESEARCH INTERESTS The overarching theme of my work is the connection between Earth and life through time, more precisely, understanding ancient (Mesozoic and Cenozoic) ocean ecosystems and the evolutionary and environmental events that shaped them. My research is interdisciplinary, (paleontology, sedimentology, biology, geochemistry, and oceanography) and focuses on: extinctions and carbon cycle perturbation events (e.g., Oceanic Anoxic Events, acidification events); marine (paleo)ecology and reef systems; the evolution of reef builders (e.g., coral photosymbiosis); and exceptionally preserved fossil deposits (Lagerstätten). ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS Associate Professor, University of Texas at Austin September 2020 to Present Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Austin August 2014 to August 2020 Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard University August 2012 to July 2014 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Mentor: Dr. Andrew H. Knoll. EDUCATION Doctorate, University of Southern California 2007 to 2012 Dissertation: “Paleoecology of Upper Triassic reef ecosystems and their demise at the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, a potential ocean acidification event”. Advisor: Dr. David J. Bottjer, degree conferred August 7th, 2012. Bachelor of Science Honors Degree, Queen’s University 2003 to 2007 Geology major with a general concentration in Biology (Geological Sciences Medal Winner). AWARDS AND RECOGNITION Awards During Tenure at UT Austin • 2019 National Science Foundation CAREER Award: Awarded to candidates who are judged to have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education.
    [Show full text]
  • MARTIAN PALEOMAGNETISM with the SQUID MICROSCOPE Thesis
    MARTIAN PALEOMAGNETISM WITH THE SQUID MICROSCOPE Thesis by Benjamin Paul Weiss In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California 2003 (Defended January 28, 2003) ii 2003 Benjamin Paul Weiss All Rights Reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are of course many people who need to be thanked for making this thesis possible, but by far the most important of these is Joe Kirschvink. Joe couldn’t have had me in his lab more than a week before trusting me and a fellow undergraduate—the two of us new to geology, unproven and truly nobodies—to stay up all night slicing up the martian meteorite ALH84001. All night long we kept laughing out of excitement and disbelief as we played with not only an invaluable rock from Mars but the oldest known rock from any planet! This ability to inspire through his trust is Joe’s genius as a teacher. Joe also taught me how to be at once fearlessly creative and within the bounds of rigor. To me, it is the stories—of the rocks, of the events of the past, and of how we learn about them—that were what attracted me to planetary science in the first place. Trucking around the world with Joe (through South Africa, Swaziland, Mexico, Australia, Japan…), I saw some really strange rocks and places, which had even stranger stories to tell. Strange, at least, when told through Joe as their interpreter (Joe says I am a Martian that has just recently taken over a human body but hasn’t quite learned how to use all of the equipment; if this is true, then where did he come from?).
    [Show full text]
  • Dornbos.Web.CV
    Stephen Quinn Dornbos Associate Professor and Department Chair Department of Geosciences University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413 Phone: (414) 229-6630 Fax: (414) 229-5452 E-mail: [email protected] http://uwm.edu/geosciences/people/dornbos-stephen/ EDUCATION 2003 Ph.D., Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. 1999 M.S., Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. 1997 B.A., Geology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH. ADDITIONAL EDUCATION 2002 University of Washington, Summer Marine Invertebrate Zoology Course, Friday Harbor Laboratories. 1997 Louisiana State University, Summer Field Geology Course. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2017-Present Department Chair, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 2010-Present Associate Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 2004-2010 Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 2012-Present Adjunct Curator, Geology Department, Milwaukee Public Museum. 2004-Present Curator, Greene Geological Museum, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. 2003-2004 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California. 2002 Research Assistant, Invertebrate Paleontology Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. EDITORIAL POSITIONS 2017-Present Editorial Board, Heliyon. 2015-Present Board of Directors, Coquina Press. 2014-Present Commentaries Editor, Palaeontologia Electronica. 2006-Present Associate Editor, Palaeontologia Electronica. Curriculum Vitae – Stephen Q. Dornbos 2 RESEARCH INTERESTS 1) Evolution and preservation of early life on Earth. 2) Evolutionary paleoecology of early animals during the Cambrian radiation. 3) Geobiology of microbial structures in Precambrian–Cambrian sedimentary rocks. 4) Cambrian reef evolution, paleoecology, and extinction. 5) Exceptional fossil preservation. HONORS AND AWARDS 2013 UWM Authors Recognition Ceremony. 2011 Full Member, Sigma Xi.
    [Show full text]
  • Cyanobacterial Evolution During the Precambrian
    International Journal of Astrobiology 15 (3): 187–204 (2016) doi:10.1017/S1473550415000579 © Cambridge University Press 2016 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cyanobacterial evolution during the Precambrian Bettina E. Schirrmeister1, Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo2 and David Wacey1,3 1School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK e-mail: [email protected] 2School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK 3Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, and ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Abstract: Life on Earth has existed for at least 3.5 billion years. Yet, relatively little is known of its evolution during the first two billion years, due to the scarceness and generally poor preservation of fossilized biological material. Cyanobacteria, formerly known as blue green algae were among the first crown Eubacteria to evolve and for more than 2.5 billion years they have strongly influenced Earth’s biosphere. Being the only organism where oxygenic photosynthesis has originated, they have oxygenated Earth’s atmosphere and hydrosphere, triggered the evolution of plants –being ancestral to chloroplasts– and enabled the evolution of complex life based on aerobic respiration. Having such a strong impact on early life, one might expect that the evolutionary success of this group may also have triggered further biosphere changes during early Earth history.
    [Show full text]
  • Thiomargarita Namibiensis Cells by Using Microelectrodes Heide N
    APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Nov. 2002, p. 5746–5749 Vol. 68, No. 11 0099-2240/02/$04.00ϩ0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.11.5746–5749.2002 Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Uptake Rates of Oxygen and Sulfide Measured with Individual Thiomargarita namibiensis Cells by Using Microelectrodes Heide N. Schulz1,2* and Dirk de Beer1 Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, D-28359 Bremen, Germany,1 and Section of Microbiology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 956162 Received 25 March 2002/Accepted 31 July 2002 Gradients of oxygen and sulfide measured towards individual cells of the large nitrate-storing sulfur bacterium Thiomargarita namibiensis showed that in addition to nitrate oxygen is used for oxidation of sulfide. Stable gradients around the cells were found only if acetate was added to the medium at low concentrations. The sulfur bacterium Thiomargarita namibiensis is a close conclusions about their physiology by observing chemotactic relative of the filamentous sulfur bacteria of the genera Beg- behavior, as has been done successfully with Beggiatoa and giatoa and Thioploca. It was only recently discovered off the Thioploca filaments (5, 10). However, because of the large size Namibian coast in fluid sediments rich in organic matter and of Thiomargarita cells, they develop, around individual cells, sulfide (15). The large, spherical cells of Thiomargarita (diam- measurable gradients of oxygen and sulfide that can be used eter, 100 to 300 ␮m) are held together in a chain by mucus that for calculating uptake rates of oxygen and sulfide. Thus, the surrounds each cell (Fig. 1). Most of the cell volume is taken physiological reactions of individual cells to changes in oxygen up by a central vacuole in which nitrate is stored at concen- and sulfide concentrations can be directly observed by observ- trations of up to 800 mM.
    [Show full text]
  • Tanja Bosak Was Born in Croatia and Graduated from the Zagreb University with a Degree in Geophysics
    Tanja Bosak was born in Croatia and graduated from the Zagreb University with a degree in Geophysics. After a summer of research at JPL, she moved to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where she studied signatures of microbial processes in ancient sedimentary rocks and earned a Ph.D. in Geobiology. She spent two years at Harvard as a Microbial Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow, joined the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT in 2007 and is now a Professor of Geobiology and the group leader of the Program in Geology, Geochemistry and Geobiology. Tanja’s work integrates microbiology, sedimentology and stable isotope geochemistry into experimental geobiology to ask how microbial processes leave chemical, mineral and morphological signals in sedimentary rocks. Her lab uses this approach to explore modern biogeochemical and sedimentological processes, interpret the co-evolution of life and the environment during the first 80% of Earth history and look for signs of past life on Mars. For this work, and her work with graduate students and undergraduates, Bosak received the Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science award by the Geological Society of America (2007), the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2011), the Edgerton Award for young faculty at MIT (2012), the Undergraduate Research Opportunities for Undergraduates Mentor of the Year award by MIT (2012) and the Award for Outstanding Contributions and Dedication to Geobiology and Geomicrobiology from The Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division of The Geological Society of America. Bosak is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2011), the American Academy of Microbiology (2021), and a subject editor for Geobiology, Frontiers of Microbiology and Geochemical Perspectives Letters.
    [Show full text]
  • Microbial Facies in a Sturtian Cap Carbonate, the Rasthof Formation, Otavi Group, Northern Namibia
    Precambrian Research 181 (2010) 187–198 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Precambrian Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/precamres Microbial facies in a Sturtian cap carbonate, the Rasthof Formation, Otavi Group, northern Namibia Sara B. Pruss a,∗, Tanja Bosak b, Francis A. Macdonald c, Marie McLane a, Paul F. Hoffman c,d a Department of Geosciences, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063, USA b Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA c Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA d School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 2Y2 article info abstract Article history: Microbial structures in Neoproterozoic cap carbonates record the environmental processes present in Received 4 February 2010 the aftermath of global glaciation. The Rasthof Formation of northern Namibia is a unique carbonate Received in revised form 24 May 2010 depositional sequence that formed during post-glacial transgression and highstand following the Chuos Accepted 2 June 2010 glaciation. Carbon isotope profiles from four examined localities reveal that onlap was diachronous over post-glacial, syn-rift topography. The lower Rasthof Formation consists primarily of dark gray thinly (<mm) and thickly (1–4 mm) laminated microbialites that exhibit different rheological responses to the Keywords: emplacement of syndepositional dikes. The thinly laminated microbialaminite facies commonly host cm- Cryogenian Roll-up structure sized syndepositional folds of microbially laminated sediment called roll-up structures. In more thickly Neoproterozoic laminated facies, layers are deformed into broad decimeter-sized folds, but roll-up structures are absent.
    [Show full text]
  • Spontaneous Generation & Origin of Life Concepts from Antiquity to The
    SIMB News News magazine of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology April/May/June 2019 V.69 N.2 • www.simbhq.org Spontaneous Generation & Origin of Life Concepts from Antiquity to the Present :ŽƵƌŶĂůŽĨ/ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂůDŝĐƌŽďŝŽůŽŐLJΘŝŽƚĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐLJ Impact Factor 3.103 The Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology is an international journal which publishes papers in metabolic engineering & synthetic biology; biocatalysis; fermentation & cell culture; natural products discovery & biosynthesis; bioenergy/biofuels/biochemicals; environmental microbiology; biotechnology methods; applied genomics & systems biotechnology; and food biotechnology & probiotics Editor-in-Chief Ramon Gonzalez, University of South Florida, Tampa FL, USA Editors Special Issue ^LJŶƚŚĞƚŝĐŝŽůŽŐLJ; July 2018 S. Bagley, Michigan Tech, Houghton, MI, USA R. H. Baltz, CognoGen Biotech. Consult., Sarasota, FL, USA Impact Factor 3.500 T. W. Jeffries, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA 3.000 T. D. Leathers, USDA ARS, Peoria, IL, USA 2.500 M. J. López López, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain C. D. Maranas, Pennsylvania State Univ., Univ. Park, PA, USA 2.000 2.505 2.439 2.745 2.810 3.103 S. Park, UNIST, Ulsan, Korea 1.500 J. L. Revuelta, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain 1.000 B. Shen, Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA 500 D. K. Solaiman, USDA ARS, Wyndmoor, PA, USA Y. Tang, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA E. J. Vandamme, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium H. Zhao, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA 10 Most Cited Articles Published in 2016 (Data from Web of Science: October 15, 2018) Senior Author(s) Title Citations L. Katz, R. Baltz Natural product discovery: past, present, and future 103 Genetic manipulation of secondary metabolite biosynthesis for improved production in Streptomyces and R.
    [Show full text]
  • Chemosynthetic Symbiont with a Drastically Reduced Genome Serves As Primary Energy Storage in the Marine Flatworm Paracatenula
    Chemosynthetic symbiont with a drastically reduced genome serves as primary energy storage in the marine flatworm Paracatenula Oliver Jäcklea, Brandon K. B. Seaha, Målin Tietjena, Nikolaus Leischa, Manuel Liebekea, Manuel Kleinerb,c, Jasmine S. Berga,d, and Harald R. Gruber-Vodickaa,1 aMax Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, 28359 Bremen, Germany; bDepartment of Geoscience, University of Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada; cDepartment of Plant & Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695; and dInstitut de Minéralogie, Physique des Matériaux et Cosmochimie, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Edited by Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, and approved March 1, 2019 (received for review November 7, 2018) Hosts of chemoautotrophic bacteria typically have much higher thrive in both free-living environmental and symbiotic states, it is biomass than their symbionts and consume symbiont cells for difficult to attribute their genomic features to either functions nutrition. In contrast to this, chemoautotrophic Candidatus Riegeria they provide to their host, or traits that are necessary for envi- symbionts in mouthless Paracatenula flatworms comprise up to ronmental survival or to both. half of the biomass of the consortium. Each species of Paracate- The smallest genomes of chemoautotrophic symbionts have nula harbors a specific Ca. Riegeria, and the endosymbionts have been observed for the gammaproteobacterial symbionts of ves- been vertically transmitted for at least 500 million years. Such icomyid clams that are directly transmitted between host genera- prolonged strict vertical transmission leads to streamlining of sym- tions (13, 14). Such strict vertical transmission leads to substantial biont genomes, and the retained physiological capacities reveal and ongoing genome reduction.
    [Show full text]