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Science 7 March 2008:
Vol. 319. no. 5868, p. 1336
DOI: 10.1126/science.1151241
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Technical Comments

Comment on "Early Archaean Microorganisms Preferred Elemental Sulfur, Not Sulfate"

Huiming Bao,* Tao Sun, Issaku Kohl, Yongbo Peng

Philippot et al. (Reports, 14 September 2007, p. 1534) interpreted multiple–sulfur isotopic compositions of ~3.5-billion-year-old marine sulfide deposits as evidence that early Archaean microorganisms were not sulfate reducers but instead metabolized elemental sulfur. However, their data can be better explained by a scenario involving poor mixing of photochemical and surface sulfide sources.

Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, E235 Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bao{at}lsu.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)