Uranium isotopes fingerprint biotic reduction

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Malgorzata Stylo
  • Nadja Neubert
  • Yuheng Wang
  • Nikhil Monga
  • Stephen J. Romaniello
  • Stefan Weyer
  • Rizlan Bernier-Latmani

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
  • Arizona State University
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5619-5624
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume112
Issue number18
Publication statusPublished - 5 May 2015

Abstract

Knowledge of paleo-redox conditions in the Earth's history provides a window into events that shaped the evolution of life on our planet. The role of microbial activity in paleo-redox processes remains unexplored due to the inability to discriminate biotic from abiotic redox transformations in the rock record. The ability to deconvolute these two processes would provide a means to identify environmental niches in which microbial activity was prevalent at a specific time in paleo-history and to correlate specific biogeochemical events with the corresponding microbial metabolism. Here, we demonstrate that the isotopic signature associated with microbial reduction of hexavalent uranium (U), i.e., the accumulation of the heavy isotope in the U(IV) phase, is readily distinguishable from that generated by abiotic uranium reduction in laboratory experiments. Thus, isotope signatures preserved in the geologic record through the reductive precipitation of uranium may provide the sought-after tool to probe for biotic processes. Because uranium is a common element in the Earth's crust and a wide variety of metabolic groups of microorganisms catalyze the biological reduction of U(VI), this tool is applicable to a multiplicity of geological epochs and terrestrial environments. The findings of this study indicate that biological activity contributed to the formation of many authigenic U deposits, including sandstone U deposits of various ages, as well as modern, Cretaceous, and Archean black shales. Additionally, engineered bioremediation activities also exhibit a biotic signature, suggesting that, although multiple pathways may be involved in the reduction, direct enzymatic reduction contributes substantially to the immobilization of uranium.

Keywords

    Bioremediation, Biosignature, Isotopes, Paleoredox, Uranium

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Uranium isotopes fingerprint biotic reduction. / Stylo, Malgorzata; Neubert, Nadja; Wang, Yuheng et al.
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 112, No. 18, 05.05.2015, p. 5619-5624.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Stylo, M, Neubert, N, Wang, Y, Monga, N, Romaniello, SJ, Weyer, S & Bernier-Latmani, R 2015, 'Uranium isotopes fingerprint biotic reduction', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 112, no. 18, pp. 5619-5624. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421841112
Stylo, M., Neubert, N., Wang, Y., Monga, N., Romaniello, S. J., Weyer, S., & Bernier-Latmani, R. (2015). Uranium isotopes fingerprint biotic reduction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(18), 5619-5624. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421841112
Stylo M, Neubert N, Wang Y, Monga N, Romaniello SJ, Weyer S et al. Uranium isotopes fingerprint biotic reduction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015 May 5;112(18):5619-5624. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1421841112
Stylo, Malgorzata ; Neubert, Nadja ; Wang, Yuheng et al. / Uranium isotopes fingerprint biotic reduction. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015 ; Vol. 112, No. 18. pp. 5619-5624.
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