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Science 30 January 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5914, p. 583
DOI: 10.1126/science.1164967
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Technical Comments

Comment on "Arsenic (III) Fuels Anoxygenic Photosynthesis in Hot Spring Biofilms from Mono Lake, California"

B. Schoepp-Cothenet,1* S. Duval,1 J. M. Santini,2 W. Nitschke1

Kulp et al. (Reports, 15 August 2008, p. 967) described a bacterium able to photosynthetically oxidize arsenite [As(III)] via arsenate [As(V)] reductase functioning in reverse. Based on their phylogenetic analysis of As(V) reductase, they proposed that this enzyme was responsible for the anaerobic oxidation of As(III) in the Archean. We challenge this proposition based on paleogeochemical, bioenergetic, and phylogenetic arguments.

1 Bioénergétique et Ingénierie des Protéines, IFR88, CNRS, 13402 Marseille, France.
2 Department of Structural and Molecular Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: schoepp{at}ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr

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