DRI researcher studies new form of photosynthesis in Mono Lake hot springs

Published on Aug 22, 2008 - 7:55:55 AM

By: Desert Research Institute

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 21, 2008 - Research conducted in Mono Lake, Calif., demonstrates how bacteria use arsenic in photosynthesis in the absence of oxygen.

Jenny Fisher, a Post Doctoral Fellow, in the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at the Desert Research Institute, was part of a study that was published in the August 15 issue of Science Magazine. Ron Oremland from the US Geological Survey Menlo Park, Calif., office was the principle investigator. Thomas Kulp, also from the USGS was the lead author of the report.

"This research is particularly interesting because we have identified a potentially ancient process," Fisher said. "Mono Lake is often considered an analog for early Earth environments, which means that conditions for this type of photosynthesis may have existed during the Archean Eon (more than 2.5 billion years ago)."

The research was conducted at hot springs on Paoha Island in Mono Lake where scientists isolated a bacterium that fuels its growth with light and arsenite. Fisher's portion of the research investigated the genetic basis for this process, specifically looking for genes that encode for enzymes capable of transforming arsenic from one form to another.

"This organism (strain PHS-1) does not have the typical arsenite oxidase genes that other organisms have; preliminary evidence suggests that PHS-1 may oxidize arsenite using an arsenate reductase operating in the reverse direction," Fisher said.

Link: Science Magazine article

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