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Science 12 March 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5664, pp. 1618 - 1619
DOI: 10.1126/science.1095177
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Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

GEOCHEMISTRY:
Enhanced: What Biogenic Minerals Tell Us

Danielle Fortin

Under the right conditions, living cells such as bacteria can create inorganic minerals. Several studies have shown that this biomineralization takes place at the cell wall or just inside cells. How and why these minerals are formed, however, is unclear. In her Perspective, Fortin discusses work reported by Chan et al. on the formation of iron oxides by bacteria in a flooded mineshaft. The researchers used a variety of x-ray spectroscopic tools to understand how polymers secreted by the bacteria were able to act as a template for mineral formation. The mineral formation may aid in bacterial survival and may also enhance the cells' energy-producing capability.

The author is in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada. E-mail: dfortin{at}uottawa.ca

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Biogenic formation of photoactive arsenic-sulfide nanotubes by Shewanella sp. strain HN-41.
J.-H. Lee, M.-G. Kim, B. Yoo, N. V. Myung, J. Maeng, T. Lee, A. C. Dohnalkova, J. K. Fredrickson, M. J. Sadowsky, and H.-G. Hur (2007)
PNAS 104, 20410-20415
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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