Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 30 January 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5914, p. 583
DOI: 10.1126/science.1166435
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Technical Comments

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

R. S. Oremland,1* J. F. Stolz,2 M. Madigan,3 J. T. Hollibaugh,4 T. R. Kulp,1 S. E. Hoeft,1 J. Fisher,4{dagger} L. G. Miller,1 C. W. Culbertson,5 M. Asao3

Schoepp-Cothenet et al. bring a welcome conceptual debate to the question of which came first in the course of planetary biological evolution, arsenite [As(III)] oxidation or dissimilatory arsenate [As(V)] reduction. However, we disagree with their reasoning and stand by our original conclusion.

1 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA.
3 Department of Microbiology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901–6508, USA.
4 Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602–3636, USA.
5 USGS Water Sciences Center, Augusta, ME 04330, USA.

{dagger} Present address: Division of Earth and Ecosystem Science, Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: roremlan{at}usgs.gov

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

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