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Science 10 March 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5459, pp. 1796 - 1799
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5459.1796
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Reports

An Archaeal Iron-Oxidizing Extreme Acidophile Important in Acid Mine Drainage

Katrina J. Edwards, 12* Philip L. Bond, 1 Thomas M. Gihring, 1 Jillian F. Banfield 1

A new species of Archaea grows at pH ~0.5 and ~40°C in slime streamers and attached to pyrite surfaces at a sulfide ore body, Iron Mountain, California. This iron-oxidizing Archaeon is capable of growth at pH 0. This species represents a dominant prokaryote in the environment studied (slimes and sediments) and constituted up to 85% of the microbial community when solution concentrations were high (conductivity of 100 to 160 millisiemens per centimeter). The presence of this and other closely related Thermoplasmales suggests that these acidophiles are important contributors to acid mine drainage and may substantially impact iron and sulfur cycles.

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1215 West Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
2 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. E-mail: kedwards{at}whoi.edu

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