Influence of organics and silica on Fe(II) oxidation rates and cell-mineral aggregate formation by the green-sulfur Fe(II)-oxidizing bacterium Chlorobium ferrooxidans KoFox - Implications for Fe(II) oxidation in ancient oceans

Science.gov (United States)

Gauger, Tina; Byrne, James M.; Konhauser, Kurt O.; Obst, Martin; Crowe, Sean; Kappler, Andreas

2016-06-01

Most studies on microbial phototrophic Fe(II) oxidation (photoferrotrophy) have focused on purple bacteria, but recent evidence points to the importance of green-sulfur bacteria (GSB). Their recovery from modern ferruginous environments suggests that these photoferrotrophs can offer insights into how their ancient counterparts grew in Archean oceans at the time of banded iron formation (BIF) deposition. It is unknown, however, how Fe(II) oxidation rates, cell-mineral aggregate formation, and Fe-mineralogy vary under environmental conditions reminiscent of the geological past. To address this, we studied the Fe(II)-oxidizer Chlorobium ferrooxidans KoFox, a GSB living in co-culture with the heterotrophic Geospirillum strain KoFum. We investigated the mineralogy of Fe(III) metabolic products at low/high light intensity, and in the presence of dissolved silica and/or fumarate. Silica and fumarate influenced the crystallinity and particle size of the produced Fe(III) minerals. The presence of silica also enhanced Fe(II) oxidation rates, especially at high light intensities, potentially by lowering Fe(II)-toxicity to the cells. Electron microscopic imaging showed no encrustation of either KoFox or KoFum cells with Fe(III)-minerals, though weak associations were observed suggesting co-sedimentation of Fe(III) with at least some biomass via these aggregates, which could support diagenetic Fe(III)-reduction. Given that GSB are presumably one of the most ancient photosynthetic organisms, and pre-date cyanobacteria, our findings, on the one hand, strengthen arguments for photoferrotrophic activity as a likely mechanism for BIF deposition on a predominantly anoxic early Earth, but, on the other hand, also suggest that preservation of remnants of Fe(II)-oxidizing GSB as microfossils in the rock record is unlikely.

Anisotropic Organization and Microscopic Manipulation of Self-Assembling Synthetic Porphyrin Microrods That Mimic Chlorosomes: Bacterial Light-Harvesting Systems

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Chappaz-Gillot, C.; Marek, P.L.; Blaive, B.J.; Canard, G.; Burck, J.; Hahn, H.; Jávor fi, T.; Kelemen, L.; Krupke, R.; Mossinger, D.; Ormos, P.; Reddy, C.M.; Roussel, C.; Steinbach, G.; Szabo, M.; Ulrich, A.S.; Vanthuyne, V.N.; Vijayaraghavan, A.; Župčanová, Anita; Balaban, T.S.

2012-01-01

Roč. 134, č. 2 (2012), s. 944-954 ISSN 0002-7863 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Green photosynthetic bacteria * Bacteriochlorophyll-C * Chlorobium-Tepidum Subject RIV: CE - Biochemistry Impact factor: 10.677, year: 2012

Absorption Linear Dichroism Measured Directly on a Single Light-Harvesting System: The Role of Disorder in Chlorosomes of Green Photosynthetic Bacteria

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Furumaki, S.; Vácha, František; Habuchi, S.; Tsukatani, Y.; Bryant, D.A.; Vácha, M.

2011-01-01

Roč. 133, č. 17 (2011), s. 6703-6710 ISSN 0002-7863 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/09/0375 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50510513 Keywords : CHLOROBIUM-TEPIDUM * BACTERIOCHLOROPHYLL-C * SUPRAMOLECULAR ORGANIZATION Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 9.907, year: 2011

Identification of a fourth family of lycopene cyclases in photosynthetic bacteria

OpenAIRE

Maresca, Julia A.; Graham, Joel E.; Wu, Martin; Eisen, Jonathan A.; Bryant, Donald A.

2007-01-01

A fourth and large family of lycopene cyclases was identified in photosynthetic prokaryotes. The first member of this family, encoded by the cruA gene of the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum, was identified in a complementation assay with a lycopene-producing strain of Escherichia coli. Orthologs of cruA are found in all available green sulfur bacterial genomes and in all cyanobacterial genomes that lack genes encoding CrtL- or CrtY-type lycopene cyclases. The cyanobacterium Synechoc...

Dicty_cDB: Contig-U15045-1 [Dicty_cDB

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available e) Bacillus anthracis str. CDC 684... 286 2e-75 EU302126_1( EU302126 |pid:none) Luciola terminali... AE006470_46( AE006470 |pid:none) Chlorobium tepidum TLS, complete ... 207 2e-51 AM494956_128( AM494956 |pid...centrotus purpuratus clone R3-42P23, WOR... 36 0.051 11 ( EK354403 ) 1095468426890 Global-Ocean-Sampling_GS-...** SEQUENCI... 38 0.25 13 ( EJ594751 ) 1092961073324 Global-Ocean-Sampling_GS-29-01-01-1... 40 0.26 2 ( BA00...170 ) 1093018401251 Global-Ocean-Sampling_GS-36-01-01-2... 50 0.35 1 ( ER486373 ) 1093015301415 Global-Ocean-Sampli

Dicty_cDB: Contig-U06515-1 [Dicty_cDB

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available bicolorF (DH5a methyl filtered) S... 46 1.5 1 ( FL639764 ) TG_26_G7 Termite gut library Reticuliterm...0375 ) 1092960187571 Global-Ocean-Sampling_GS-31-01-01-1... 44 6.0 1 ( CT500356 ) A BAC library has been constructed...01013_1( AK301013 |pid:none) Homo sapiens cDNA FLJ60076 complet... 54 4e-06 EU973819_1( EU973819 |pid:none) ...K290984 |pid:none) Homo sapiens cDNA FLJ75459 complet... 51 2e-05 CP001097_2035( CP001097 |pid:none) Chlorobium lim... ( EJ751844 ) 1092963041016 Global-Ocean-Sampling_GS-30-02-01-1... 46 1.5 1 ( EJ5

Application of Moessbauer spectroscopy for: (1) characterization of Egyptian Maghara coal; (2) evaluating the efficiency of different methods for coal desulphurization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eissa, N.A.; Sheta, N.H.; Ahmed, M.A.

1992-01-01

Coal has been recently discovered in Maghara mine at Northern Sinai, Egypt. Coal samples have been collected from different depths and were measured by XRD, XRF, and MS, in order to characterize this type of coal. It has been found that the iron bearing minerals are mainly pyrite and different sulphates depending on the depth of the sample. The second part contains the application of desulphurization techniques to Egyptian coal which are: floatation (one step and two steps), chemical [(HCl+HNO 3 ), and Fe 2 (SO 4 ) 3 ] and bacterial methods (Chromatium and Chlorobium species). The efficiency of each technique was calculated. A comparative discussion is given of each desulphurization method, from which the bacterial method has proved to be the most efficient one. (orig.)

Mechanisms and evolution of oxidative sulfur metabolism in green sulfur bacteria

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregersen, Lea Haarup; Bryant, Donald A.; Frigaard, Niels-Ulrik

2011-01-01

Green sulfur bacteria (GSB) constitute a closely related group of photoautotrophic and thiotrophic bacteria with limited phenotypic variation. They typically oxidize sulfide and thiosulfate to sulfate with sulfur globules as an intermediate. Based on genome sequence information from 15 strains...... product is further oxidized to sulfite by the dissimilatory sulfite reductase (DSR) system. This system consists of components horizontally acquired partly from sulfide-oxidizing and partly from sulfate-reducing bacteria. Depending on the strain, the sulfite is probably oxidized to sulfate by one of two...... in sulfate formation in other bacteria has been replaced by the DSR system in GSB. Sequence analyses suggested that the conserved soxJXYZAKBW gene cluster was horizontally acquired by Chlorobium phaeovibrioides DSM 265 from the Chlorobaculum lineage and that this acquisition was mediated by a mobile genetic...

Pigments and proteins in green bacterial chlorosomes studied by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Persson, S; Sönksen, C P; Frigaard, N U

2000-01-01

We have used matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) for mass determination of pigments and proteins in chlorosomes, the light-harvesting organelles from the photosynthetic green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum. By applying a small volume (1...... microL) of a concentrated suspension of isolated chlorosomes directly to the target of the mass spectrometer we have been able to detect bacteriochlorophyll a and all the major homologs of bacteriochlorophyll c. The peak heights of the different bacteriochlorophyll c homologs in the MALDI spectra were...... proportional to peak areas obtained from HPLC analysis of the same sample. The same result was also obtained when whole cells of Chl. tepidum were applied to the target, indicating that MALDI-MS can provide a rapid method for obtaining a semiquantitative determination or finger-print of the bacteriochlorophyll...

Inhibition of Caused by Bacteria Isolated from the Skin of Boreal Toads, , from Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shawna T. Park

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is a significant cause of the worldwide decline in amphibian populations; however, various amphibian species are capable of coexisting with B. dendrobatidis. Among them are boreal toads ( Anaxyrus ( Bufo boreas boreas located in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP in Wyoming, USA. The purpose of this study was to identify cultivable bacterial isolates from the skin microbiota of boreal toads from GTNP and determine if they were capable of inhibiting B. dendrobatidis in vitro, and therefore might be a factor in the toad's coexistence with this pathogen. Isolates from 6 of 21 genera tested were found to inhibit the growth of B. dendrobatidis. These bacteria represent diverse lineages such as the Gammaproteobacteria, the Betaproteobacteria, and the Bacteroidetes/Chlorobium groups. We propose that these bacteria compete via microbial antagonism with B. dendrobatidis.

34S/32S fractionation in sulfur cycles catalyzed by anaerobic bacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Fry, B.; Gest, H.; Hayes, J. M.

1988-01-01

Stable isotopic distributions in the sulfur cycle were studied with pure and mixed cultures of the anaerobic bacteria, Chlorobium vibrioforme and Desulfovibrio vulgaris. D. vulgaris and C. vibrioforme can catalyze three reactions constituting a complete anaerobic sulfur cycle: reduction of sulfate to sulfide (D. vulgaris), oxidation of sulfide to elemental sulfur (C. vibrioforme), and oxidation of sulfur to sulfate (C. vibrioforme). In all experiments, the first and last reactions favored concentration of the light 32S isotope in products (isotopic fractionation factor epsilon = -7.2 and -1.7%, respectively), whereas oxidation of sulfide favored concentration of the heavy 34S isotope in products (epsilon = +1.7%). Experimental results and model calculations suggest that elemental sulfur enriched in 34S versus sulfide may be a biogeochemical marker for the presence of sulfide-oxidizing bacteria in modern and ancient environments.

Theoretical Simulations and Ultrafast Pump-probe Spectroscopy Experiments in Pigment-protein Photosynthetic Complexes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buck, D. R. [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

2000-09-12

Theoretical simulations and ultrafast pump-probe laser spectroscopy experiments were used to study photosynthetic pigment-protein complexes and antennae found in green sulfur bacteria such as Prosthecochloris aestuarii, Chloroflexus aurantiacus, and Chlorobium tepidum. The work focused on understanding structure-function relationships in energy transfer processes in these complexes through experiments and trying to model that data as we tested our theoretical assumptions with calculations. Theoretical exciton calculations on tubular pigment aggregates yield electronic absorption spectra that are superimpositions of linear J-aggregate spectra. The electronic spectroscopy of BChl c/d/e antennae in light harvesting chlorosomes from Chloroflexus aurantiacus differs considerably from J-aggregate spectra. Strong symmetry breaking is needed if we hope to simulate the absorption spectra of the BChl c antenna. The theory for simulating absorption difference spectra in strongly coupled photosynthetic antenna is described, first for a relatively simple heterodimer, then for the general N-pigment system. The theory is applied to the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) BChl a protein trimers from Prosthecochloris aestuarii and then compared with experimental low-temperature absorption difference spectra of FMO trimers from Chlorobium tepidum. Circular dichroism spectra of the FMO trimer are unusually sensitive to diagonal energy disorder. Substantial differences occur between CD spectra in exciton simulations performed with and without realistic inhomogeneous distribution functions for the input pigment diagonal energies. Anisotropic absorption difference spectroscopy measurements are less consistent with 21-pigment trimer simulations than 7-pigment monomer simulations which assume that the laser-prepared states are localized within a subunit of the trimer. Experimental anisotropies from real samples likely arise from statistical averaging over states with diagonal energies shifted by

Photosynthetic antennae systems: energy transport and optical absorption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reineker, P.; Supritz, Ch.; Warns, Ch.; Barvik, I.

2004-01-01

The energy transport and the optical line shape of molecular aggregates, modeling bacteria photosynthetic light-harvesting systems (chlorosomes in the case of Chlorobium tepidum or Chloroflexus aurantiacus and LH2 in the case of Rhodopseudomonas acidophila) is investigated theoretically. The molecular units are described by two-level systems with an average excitation energy ε and interacting with each other through nearest-neighbor interactions. For LH2 an elliptical deformation of the ring is also allowed. Furthermore, dynamic and in the case of LH2 also quasi-static fluctuations of the local excitation energies are taken into account, simulating fast molecular vibrations and slow motions of the protein backbone, respectively. The fluctuations are described by Gaussian Markov processes in the case of the chlorosomes and by colored dichotomic Markov processes, with exponentially decaying correlation functions, with small (λ s ) and large (λ) decay constants, in the case of LH2

Modelling of oscillations in two-dimensional echo-spectra of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hein, Birgit; Kreisbeck, Christoph; Kramer, Tobias; Rodríguez, Mirta

2012-01-01

Recent experimental observations of time-dependent beatings in the two-dimensional echo-spectra of light-harvesting complexes at ambient temperatures have opened up the question of whether coherence and wave-like behaviour play a significant role in photosynthesis. We carry out a numerical study of the absorption and echo-spectra of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex in Chlorobium tepidum and analyse the requirements in the theoretical model needed to reproduce beatings in the calculated spectra. The energy transfer in the FMO pigment-protein complex is theoretically described by an exciton Hamiltonian coupled to a phonon bath which accounts for the pigments' electronic and vibrational excitations, respectively. We use the hierarchical equations of motions method to treat the strong couplings in a non-perturbative way. We show that the oscillations in the two-dimensional echo-spectra persist in the presence of thermal noise and static disorder. (paper)

Studies of alkyl porphyrin distributions in organic-rich sediments using LC-MS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eckardt, C.B.; Carter, J.F.; Keely, B.J.; Maxwell, J.R.; Kilpatrick, G.

1992-01-01

In recent years, structure elucidation of a wide variety of sedimentary tetrapyrroles has provided clear molecular evidence for the presence of primary photosynthetic communities in palaeo water columns. The reported structures indicate an origin from algal chlorophylls c for certain components, while an origin from photosynthetic bacteria is apparent from the carbon skeletons of other components. In particular, the structures of ≤C 34 porphyrin carboxylic acids in the Eocene Messel shale indicate an origin from Chloroblum bacteria. Since such bacteria are strict anaerobes, the presence of these species is evidence for anoxic conditions extending into the photic zone of Messel lake. By analogy, the presence in the more widely-occurring alkyl porphyrin distributions of components >C 33 would also suggest a Chlorobium chlorophyll origin. Hence, in this paper, the authors studied by LC-MS, the distributions of alkyl porphyrins in selected sediments and searched for the presence of such components, in order to determine photic zone anoxia in the respective palaeo environments

Pheophytinization of bacteriochlorophyll c and energy transfer in cells of Chlorobium tepidum

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tokita, S; Hirota, M; Frigaard, N-U

1999-01-01

medium, normal growth was observed after a short lag phase, and the absorption spectrum of the growing cells showed the presence of a normal amount of BChl c. During the growth of C. tepidum in the new culture, the BChl c concentration was nearly proportional to the cell density measured by turbidity (OD...

Molecular contacts for chlorosome envelope proteins revealed by cross-linking studies with chlorosomes from Chlorobium tepidum

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Hui; Frigaard, Niels-Ulrik; Bryant, Donald A

2006-01-01

type and mutants lacking a single chlorosome protein were cross-linked with the zero-length cross-linker 1-ethyl-3-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]carbodiimide (EDC) and analyzed by gel electrophoresis. Similar cross-linking products were observed when the time and temperature were varied or when EDC...... was replaced with glutaraldehyde. Specific interactions between chlorosome proteins in cross-linked products were identified by immunoblotting with polyclonal antibodies raised against recombinant chlorosome proteins. We confirmed these interactions by demonstrating that these products were missing...... in appropriate mutants. Confirming the location of CsmA in the paracrystalline baseplate, cross-linking showed that CsmA forms dimers, trimers, and homomultimers as large as dodecamers and that CsmA directly interacts with the Fenna-Matthews-Olson protein. Cross-linking further suggests that the precursor form...

Examination of microbial fuel cell start-up times with domestic wastewater and additional amendments

KAUST Repository

Liu, Guangli

2011-08-01

Rapid startup of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and other bioreactors is desirable when treating wastewaters. The startup time with unamended wastewater (118h) was similar to that obtained by adding acetate or fumarate (110-115h), and less than that with glucose (181h) or Fe(III) (353h). Initial current production took longer when phosphate buffer was added, with startup times increasing with concentration from 149h (25mM) to 251h (50mM) and 526h (100mM). Microbial communities that developed in the reactors contained Betaproteobacteria, Acetoanaerobium noterae, and Chlorobium sp. Anode biomass densities ranged from 200 to 600μg/cm2 for all amendments except Fe(Sh{cyrillic}) (1650μg/cm2). Wastewater produced 91mW/m2, with the other MFCs producing 50mW/m2 (fumarate) to 103mW/m2 (Fe(III)) when amendments were removed. These experiments show that wastewater alone is sufficient to acclimate the reactor without the need for additional chemical amendments. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Examination of microbial fuel cell start-up times with domestic wastewater and additional amendments.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guangli; Yates, Matthew D; Cheng, Shaoan; Call, Douglas F; Sun, Dan; Logan, Bruce E

2011-08-01

Rapid startup of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and other bioreactors is desirable when treating wastewaters. The startup time with unamended wastewater (118 h) was similar to that obtained by adding acetate or fumarate (110-115 h), and less than that with glucose (181 h) or Fe(III) (353 h). Initial current production took longer when phosphate buffer was added, with startup times increasing with concentration from 149 h (25 mM) to 251 h (50 mM) and 526 h (100 mM). Microbial communities that developed in the reactors contained Betaproteobacteria, Acetoanaerobium noterae, and Chlorobium sp. Anode biomass densities ranged from 200 to 600 μg/cm(2) for all amendments except Fe(Ш) (1650 μg/cm(2)). Wastewater produced 91 mW/m(2), with the other MFCs producing 50 mW/m(2) (fumarate) to 103mW/m(2) (Fe(III)) when amendments were removed. These experiments show that wastewater alone is sufficient to acclimate the reactor without the need for additional chemical amendments. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Examination of microbial fuel cell start-up times with domestic wastewater and additional amendments

KAUST Repository

Liu, Guangli; Yates, Matthew D.; Cheng, Shaoan; Call, Douglas F.; Sun, Dan; Logan, Bruce E.

2011-01-01

Rapid startup of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and other bioreactors is desirable when treating wastewaters. The startup time with unamended wastewater (118h) was similar to that obtained by adding acetate or fumarate (110-115h), and less than that with glucose (181h) or Fe(III) (353h). Initial current production took longer when phosphate buffer was added, with startup times increasing with concentration from 149h (25mM) to 251h (50mM) and 526h (100mM). Microbial communities that developed in the reactors contained Betaproteobacteria, Acetoanaerobium noterae, and Chlorobium sp. Anode biomass densities ranged from 200 to 600μg/cm2 for all amendments except Fe(Sh{cyrillic}) (1650μg/cm2). Wastewater produced 91mW/m2, with the other MFCs producing 50mW/m2 (fumarate) to 103mW/m2 (Fe(III)) when amendments were removed. These experiments show that wastewater alone is sufficient to acclimate the reactor without the need for additional chemical amendments. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Identification of a fourth family of lycopene cyclases in photosynthetic bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Maresca, Julia A; Graham, Joel E; Wu, Martin; Eisen, Jonathan A; Bryant, Donald A

2007-07-10

A fourth and large family of lycopene cyclases was identified in photosynthetic prokaryotes. The first member of this family, encoded by the cruA gene of the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum, was identified in a complementation assay with a lycopene-producing strain of Escherichia coli. Orthologs of cruA are found in all available green sulfur bacterial genomes and in all cyanobacterial genomes that lack genes encoding CrtL- or CrtY-type lycopene cyclases. The cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 has two homologs of CruA, denoted CruA and CruP, and both were shown to have lycopene cyclase activity. Although all characterized lycopene cyclases in plants are CrtL-type proteins, genes orthologous to cruP also occur in plant genomes. The CruA- and CruP-type carotenoid cyclases are members of the FixC dehydrogenase superfamily and are distantly related to CrtL- and CrtY-type lycopene cyclases. Identification of these cyclases fills a major gap in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathways of green sulfur bacteria and cyanobacteria.

Phylogeny and molecular signatures (conserved proteins and indels that are specific for the Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi species

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzini Emily

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi species constitute two main groups of the Bacteria that are closely related in phylogenetic trees. The Bacteroidetes species are widely distributed and include many important periodontal pathogens. In contrast, all Chlorobi are anoxygenic obligate photoautotrophs. Very few (or no biochemical or molecular characteristics are known that are distinctive characteristics of these bacteria, or are commonly shared by them. Results Systematic blast searches were performed on each open reading frame in the genomes of Porphyromonas gingivalis W83, Bacteroides fragilis YCH46, B. thetaiotaomicron VPI-5482, Gramella forsetii KT0803, Chlorobium luteolum (formerly Pelodictyon luteolum DSM 273 and Chlorobaculum tepidum (formerly Chlorobium tepidum TLS to search for proteins that are uniquely present in either all or certain subgroups of Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi. These studies have identified > 600 proteins for which homologues are not found in other organisms. This includes 27 and 51 proteins that are specific for most of the sequenced Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi genomes, respectively; 52 and 38 proteins that are limited to species from the Bacteroidales and Flavobacteriales orders, respectively, and 5 proteins that are common to species from these two orders; 185 proteins that are specific for the Bacteroides genus. Additionally, 6 proteins that are uniquely shared by species from the Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi phyla (one of them also present in the Fibrobacteres have also been identified. This work also describes two large conserved inserts in DNA polymerase III (DnaE and alanyl-tRNA synthetase that are distinctive characteristics of the Chlorobi species and a 3 aa deletion in ClpB chaperone that is mainly found in various Bacteroidales, Flavobacteriales and Flexebacteraceae, but generally not found in the homologs from other organisms. Phylogenetic analyses of the Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi species is also

Electronic energy transfer involving carotenoid pigments in chlorosomes of two green bacteria: Chlorobium tepidum and Chloroflexus aurantiacus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Melø, T B; Frigaard, N-U; Matsuura, K

2000-01-01

S) spectra, recorded at ambient temperature and under non-reducing or reducing conditions, are reported. The carotenoid (Car) pigments in both species transfer their singlet excitation to bacteriochlorophyll c (BChlc) with an efficiency which is high (between 0.5 and 0.8) but smaller than unity; BChlc...

Efficient and accurate simulations of two-dimensional electronic photon-echo signals: Illustration for a simple model of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharp, Leah Z.; Egorova, Dassia; Domcke, Wolfgang

2010-01-01

Two-dimensional (2D) photon-echo spectra of a single subunit of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) bacteriochlorophyll trimer of Chlorobium tepidum are simulated, employing the equation-of-motion phase-matching approach (EOM-PMA). We consider a slightly extended version of the previously proposed Frenkel exciton model, which explicitly accounts for exciton coherences in the secular approximation. The study is motivated by a recent experiment reporting long-lived coherent oscillations in 2D transients [Engel et al., Nature 446, 782 (2007)] and aims primarily at accurate simulations of the spectroscopic signals, with the focus on oscillations of 2D peak intensities with population time. The EOM-PMA accurately accounts for finite pulse durations as well as pulse-overlap effects and does not invoke approximations apart from the weak-field limit for a given material system. The population relaxation parameters of the exciton model are taken from the literature. The effects of various dephasing mechanisms on coherence lifetimes are thoroughly studied. It is found that the experimentally detected multiple frequencies in peak oscillations cannot be reproduced by the employed FMO model, which calls for the development of a more sophisticated exciton model of the FMO complex.

A reconstituted light-harvesting complex from the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum containing CsmA and bacteriochlorophyll a

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Marie Ø; Pham, Lan; Steensgaard, Dorte B

2008-01-01

chlorosomes were lyophilized and extracted with chloroform/methanol (1:1, v/v). The extract was further purified using gel filtration and reverse-phase HPLC and the purity of the preparation confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Mass spectrometric analysis showed an m/z of 6154.8, in agreement with the calculated mass...

Think big--giant genes in bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Reva, Oleg; Tümmler, Burkhard

2008-03-01

Long genes should be rare in archaea and eubacteria because of the demanding costs of time and resources for protein production. The search in 580 sequenced prokaryotic genomes, however, revealed 0.2% of all genes to be longer than 5 kb (absolute number: 3732 genes). Eighty giant bacterial genes of more than 20 kb in length were identified in 47 taxa that belong to the phyla Thermotogae (1), Chlorobi (3), Planctomycetes (1), Cyanobacteria (2), Firmicutes (7), Actinobacteria (9), Proteobacteria (23) or Euryarchaeota (1) (number of taxa in brackets). Giant genes are strain-specific, differ in their tetranucleotide usage from the bulk genome and occur preferentially in non-pathogenic environmental bacteria. The two longest bacterial genes known to date were detected in the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium chlorochromatii CaD3 encoding proteins of 36 806 and 20 647 amino acids, being surpassed in length only by the human titin coding sequence. More than 90% of bacterial giant genes either encode a surface protein or a polyketide/non-ribosomal peptide synthetase. Most surface proteins are acidic, threonine-rich, lack cystein and harbour multiple amino acid repeats. Giant proteins increase bacterial fitness by the production of either weapons towards or shields against animate competitors or hostile environments.

Strong shift in the diazotrophic endophytic bacterial community inhabiting rice (Oryza sativa) plants after flooding.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrando, Lucía; Fernández Scavino, Ana

2015-09-01

Flooding impacts soil microbial communities, but its effect on endophytic communities has rarely been explored. This work addresses the effect of flooding on the abundance and diversity of endophytic diazotrophic communities on rice plants established in a greenhouse experiment. The nifH gene was significantly more abundant in roots after flooding, whereas the nifH gene copy numbers in leaves were unaffected and remained low. The PCA (principal component analysis) of T-RFLP (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism) profiles indicated that root communities of replicate plots were more similar and diverse after flooding than before flooding. The nifH libraries obtained by cloning and 454 pyrosequencing consistently showed a remarkable shift in the diazotrophic community composition after flooding. Gammaproteobacteria (66-98%), mainly of the genus Stenotrophomonas, prevailed in roots before flooding, whereas Betaproteobacteria was the dominant class (26-34%) after flooding. A wide variety of aerotolerant and anaerobic diazotrophic bacteria (e.g. Dechloromonas, Rhodopseudomonas, Desulfovibrio, Geobacter, Chlorobium, Spirochaeta, Selenomonas and Dehalobacter) with diverse metabolic traits were retrieved from flooded rice roots. These findings suggest that endophytic communities could be significantly impacted by changes in plant-soil conditions derived from flooding during rice cropping. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

X-ray scattering and electron cryomicroscopy study on the effect of carotenoid biosynthesis to the structure of Chlorobium tepidum chlorosomes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ikonen, T P; Li, H; Psencík, J

2007-01-01

effect on chlorosome biogenesis and structure. The results indicate that carotenoids with a sufficiently long conjugated system are important for the biogenesis of the chlorosome baseplate. Defects in the baseplate structure affected the shape of the chlorosomes and were correlated with differences...... studied by means of x-ray scattering and electron cryomicroscopy. The chlorosomes from each mutant strain exhibited a lamellar arrangement of the bacteriochlorophyll c aggregates, which are the major constituents of the chlorosome interior. However, the carotenoid content and composition had a pronounced...... in the arrangement of lamellae and spacing between the lamellar planes of bacteriochlorophyll aggregates. In addition, comparisons among the various mutants enabled refinement of the assignments of the x-ray scattering peaks. While the main scattering peaks come from the lamellar structure of bacteriochlorophyll c...

Bacterial community composition in the water column of a lake formed by a former uranium open pit mine.

Science.gov (United States)

Edberg, Frida; Andersson, Anders F; Holmström, Sara J M

2012-11-01

Mining of pyrite minerals is a major environmental issue involving both biological and geochemical processes. Here we present a study of an artificial lake of a former uranium open pit mine with the aim to connect the chemistry and bacterial community composition (454-pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes) in the stratified water column. A shift in the water chemistry from oxic conditions in the epilimnion to anoxic, alkaline, and metal and sulfide-rich conditions in the hypolimnion was corresponded by a strong shift in the bacterial community, with few shared operational taxonomic units (OTU) between the water layers. The epilimnetic bacterial community of the lake (~20 years old) showed similarities to other temperate freshwater lakes, while the hypolimnetic bacterial community showed similarity to extreme chemical environments. The epilimnetic bacterial community had dominance of Actinobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. The hypolimnion displayed a higher bacterial diversity and was dominated by the phototrophic green sulphur bacterium of the genus Chlorobium (ca. 40 % of the total community). Deltaproteobacteria were only represented in the hypolimnion and the most abundant OTUs were affiliated with ferric iron and sulfate reducers of the genus Geobacter and Desulfobulbus, respectively. The chemistry is clearly controlling, especially the hypolimnetic, bacterial community but the community composition also indicates that the bacteria are involved in metal cycling in the lake.

Phototrophic Fe(II-oxidation in the chemocline of a ferruginous meromictic lake

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xavier Alexis eWalter

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Precambrian Banded Iron Formation (BIF deposition was conventionally attributed to the precipitation of iron-oxides resulting from the abiotic reaction of ferrous iron (Fe(II with photosynthetically-produced oxygen. Earliest traces of oxygen date from 2.7 Ga, thus raising questions as to what may have caused BIF precipitation before oxygenic photosynthesis evolved. The discovery of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria thriving through the oxidation of Fe(II has provided support for a biological origin for some BIFs, but despite reports suggesting that anoxygenic phototrophs may oxidize Fe(II in the environment, a model ecosystem of an ancient ocean where they are demonstrably active was lacking. Here we show that anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria contribute to Fe(II oxidation in the water column of the ferruginous sulfate-poor, meromictic lake La Cruz (Spain. We observed in-situ photoferrotrophic activity through stimulation of phototrophic carbon uptake in the presence of Fe(II, and determined light-dependent Fe(II-oxidation by the natural chemocline microbiota. Moreover, a photoferrotrophic bacterium most closely related to Chlorobium ferrooxidans was enriched from the ferruginous water column. Our study for the first time demonstrates a direct link between anoxygenic photoferrotrophy and the anoxic precipitation of Fe(III-oxides in a ferruginous water column, providing a plausible mechanism for the bacterial origin of BIF’s before the advent of free oxygen.

Biological sulphide removal from anaerobically treated domestic sewage: reactor performance and microbial community dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Graziella Patrício Pereira; Diniz, Renata Côrtes Oliveira; Bicalho, Sarah Kinaip; Franco, Vitor Araujo de Souza; Gontijo, Eider Max de Oliveira; Toscano, Rodrigo Argolo; Canhestro, Kenia Oliveira; Santos, Merly Rita Dos; Carmo, Ana Luiza Rodrigues Dias; Lobato, Livia Cristina S; Brandt, Emanuel Manfred F; Chernicharo, Carlos A L; Calabria de Araujo, Juliana

2015-01-01

We developed a biological sulphide oxidation system and evaluated two reactors (shaped similar to the settler compartment of an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket [UASB] reactor) with different support materials for biomass retention: polypropylene rings and polyurethane foam. The start-up reaction was achieved using microorganisms naturally occurring on the open surface of UASB reactors treating domestic wastewater. Sulphide removal efficiencies of 65% and 90% were achieved with hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 24 and 12 h, respectively, in both reactors. However, a higher amount of elemental sulphur was formed and accumulated in the biomass from reactor 1 (20 mg S(0) g(-1) VTS) than in that from reactor 2 (2.9 mg S(0) g(-1) VTS) with an HRT of 24 h. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) results revealed that the the pink and green biomass that developed in both reactors comprised a diverse bacterial community and had sequences related to phototrophic green and purple-sulphur bacteria such as Chlorobium sp., Chloronema giganteum, and Chromatiaceae. DGGE band patterns also demonstrated that bacterial community was dynamic over time within the same reactor and that different support materials selected for distinct bacterial communities. Taken together, these results indicated that sulphide concentrations of 1-6 mg L(-1) could be efficiently removed from the effluent of a pilot-scale UASB reactor in two sulphide biological oxidation reactors at HRTs of 12 and 24 h, showing the potential for sulphur recovery from anaerobically treated domestic wastewater.

Diversity and Functional Analysis of the FeMo-Cofactor Maturase NifB

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Simon Arragain

2017-11-01

Full Text Available One of the main hurdles to engineer nitrogenase in a non-diazotrophic host is achieving NifB activity. NifB is an extremely unstable and oxygen sensitive protein that catalyzes a low-potential SAM-radical dependent reaction. The product of NifB activity is called NifB-co, a complex [8Fe-9S-C] cluster that serves as obligate intermediate in the biosyntheses of the active-site cofactors of all known nitrogenases. Here we study the diversity and phylogeny of naturally occurring NifB proteins, their protein architecture and the functions of the distinct NifB domains in order to understand what defines a catalytically active NifB. Focus is on NifB from the thermophile Chlorobium tepidum (two-domain architecture, the hyperthermophile Methanocaldococcus infernus (single-domain architecture and the mesophile Klebsiella oxytoca (two-domain architecture, showing in silico characterization of their nitrogen fixation (nif gene clusters, conserved NifB motifs, and functionality. C. tepidum and M. infernus NifB were able to complement an Azotobacter vinelandii (ΔnifB mutant restoring the Nif+ phenotype and thus demonstrating their functionality in vivo. In addition, purified C. tepidum NifB exhibited activity in the in vitro NifB-dependent nitrogenase reconstitution assay. Intriguingly, changing the two-domain K. oxytoca NifB to single-domain by removal of the C-terminal NifX-like extension resulted in higher in vivo nitrogenase activity, demonstrating that this domain is not required for nitrogen fixation in mesophiles.

Selective Protein Extraction from Chlorobium tepidum Chlorosomes Using Detergents. Evidence That CsmA Forms Multimers and Binds Bacteriochlorophyll a

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bryant, Donald A; Vassilieva, Elena V; Frigaard, Niels-Ulrik

2002-01-01

and location of this BChl a are not yet clearly understood. Chlorosomes were treated with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Lubrol PX, or Triton X-100, separately or in combination with 1-hexanol, and the extracted components were separated from the residual chlorosomes by ultrafiltration on centrifugal filters....... When chlorosomes were treated with low concentrations of SDS, all proteins except CsmA were extracted. However, this treatment did not significantly alter the size and shape of the chlorosomes, did not extract the BChl a, and caused only minor changes in the absorption spectrum of the chlorosomes....... Cross-linking studies with SDS-treated chlorosomes revealed the presence of multimers of the major chlorosome protein, CsmA, up to homooctamers. Extraction of chlorosomes with SDS and 1-hexanol solubilized all ten chlorosome envelope proteins as well as BChl a. Although the size and shape...

Nonphotochemical Hole-Burning Studies of Energy Transfer Dynamics in Antenna Complexes of Photosynthetic Bacteria

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsuzaki, Satoshi [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

2001-01-01

This thesis contains the candidate's original work on excitonic structure and energy transfer dynamics of two bacterial antenna complexes as studied using spectral hole-burning spectroscopy. The general introduction is divided into two chapters (1 and 2). Chapter 1 provides background material on photosynthesis and bacterial antenna complexes with emphasis on the two bacterial antenna systems related to the thesis research. Chapter 2 reviews the underlying principles and mechanism of persistent nonphotochemical hole-burning (NPHB) spectroscopy. Relevant energy transfer theories are also discussed. Chapters 3 and 4 are papers by the candidate that have been published. Chapter 3 describes the application of NPHB spectroscopy to the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex from the green sulfur bacterium Prosthecochloris aestuarii; emphasis is on determination of the low energy vibrational structure that is important for understanding the energy transfer process associated within three lowest energy Q_y-states of the complex. The results are compared with those obtained earlier on the FMO complex from Chlorobium tepidum. In Chapter 4, the energy transfer dynamics of the B800 molecules of intact LH2 and B800-deficient LH2 complexes of the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila are compared. New insights on the additional decay channel of the B800 ring of bacteriochlorophyll_a (BChl_a) molecules are provided. General conclusions are given in Chapter 5. A version of the hole spectrum simulation program written by the candidate for the FMO complex study (Chapter 3) is included as an appendix. The references for each chapter are given at the end of each chapter.

Insights into the Structure and Metabolic Function of Microbes That Shape Pelagic Iron-Rich Aggregates ( Iron Snow )

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, S [Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena Germany; Chourey, Karuna [ORNL; REICHE, M [Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena Germany; Nietzsche, S [Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena Germany; Shah, Manesh B [ORNL; Hettich, Robert {Bob} L [ORNL; Kusel, K [Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena Germany

2013-01-01

Metaproteomics combined with total nucleic acid-based methods aided in deciphering the roles of microorganisms in the formation and transformation of iron-rich macroscopic aggregates (iron snow) formed in the redoxcline of an acidic lignite mine lake. Iron snow had high total bacterial 16S rRNA gene copies, with 2 x 109 copies g (dry wt)-1 in the acidic (pH 3.5) central lake basin and 4 x 1010 copies g (dry wt)-1 in the less acidic (pH 5.5) northern lake basin. Active microbial communities in the central basin were dominated by Alphaproteobacteria (36.6%) and Actinobacteria (21.4%), and by Betaproteobacteria (36.2%) in the northern basin. Microbial Fe-cycling appeared to be the dominant metabolism in the schwertmannite-rich iron snow, because cloning and qPCR assigned up to 61% of active bacteria as Fe-cycling bacteria (FeB). Metaproteomics revealed 70 unique proteins from central basin iron snow and 283 unique proteins from 43 genera from northern basin. Protein identification provided a glimpse into in situ processes, such as primary production, motility, metabolism of acidophilic FeB, and survival strategies of neutrophilic FeB. Expression of carboxysome shell proteins and RubisCO indicated active CO2 fixation by Fe(II) oxidizers. Flagellar proteins from heterotrophs indicated their activity to reach and attach surfaces. Gas vesicle proteins related to CO2-fixing Chlorobium suggested that microbes could influence iron snow sinking. We suggest that iron snow formed by autotrophs in the redoxcline acts as a microbial parachute, since it is colonized by motile heterotrophs during sinking which start to dissolve schwertmannite.

Chlorobium tepidum mutant lacking bacteriochlorophyll c made by inactivation of the bchK gene, encoding bacteriochlorophyll c synthase

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frigaard, Niels-Ulrik; Voigt, Ginny D; Bryant, Donald A

2002-01-01

of the BChl c antenna, the mutant grew about seven times slower than the wild type at light intensities that were limiting to the wild type (... found in the wild type, the bchK mutant should prove valuable for future analyses of the photosynthetic reaction center and of the roles of BChl a in photosynthesis in green bacteria. An evolutionary implication of our findings is that the photosynthetic ancestor of green sulfur bacteria could have...... evolved without chlorosomes and BChl c and instead used only BChl a-containing proteins as the major light-harvesting antennae....

Spectroscopic properties of a reconstituted light-harvesting complex from the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum containing CsmA and bacteriochlorophyll a

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Marie Østergaard; Pham, Lan; Steensgaard, Dorte Bjerre

2008-01-01

chlorosomes were lyophilized and extracted with chloroform/methanol (1:1, v/v). The . Isolated chlorosomes were lyophilized and extracted with chloroform/methanol (1:1, v/v). The extract was further purified using gel filtration and reverse-phase HPLC and the purity of the preparation confirmed by SDS...

Genes, Genomes, and Assemblages of Modern Anoxygenic Photosynthetic Cyanobacteria as Proxies for Ancient Cyanobacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Grim, S. L.; Dick, G.

2015-12-01

Oxygenic photosynthetic (OP) cyanobacteria were responsible for the production of O2 during the Proterozoic. However, the extent and degree of oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans varied for over 2 Ga after OP cyanobacteria first appeared in the geologic record. Cyanobacteria capable of anoxygenic photosynthesis (AP) may have altered the trajectory of oxygenation, yet the scope of their role in the Proterozoic is not well known. Modern cyanobacterial populations from Middle Island Sinkhole (MIS), Michigan and a handful of cultured cyanobacterial strains, are capable of OP and AP. With their metabolic versatility, these microbes may approximate ancient cyanobacterial assemblages that mediated Earth's oxygenation. To better characterize the taxonomic and genetic signatures of these modern AP/OP cyanobacteria, we sequenced 16S rRNA genes and conducted 'omics analyses on cultured strains, lab mesocosms, and MIS cyanobacterial mat samples collected over multiple years from May to September. Diversity in the MIS cyanobacterial mat is low, with one member of Oscillatoriales dominating at all times. However, Planktothrix members are more abundant in the cyanobacterial community in late summer and fall. The shift in cyanobacterial community composition may be linked to seasonally changing light intensity. In lab mesocosms of MIS microbial mat, we observed a shift in dominant cyanobacterial groups as well as the emergence of Chlorobium, bacteria that specialize in AP. These shifts in microbial community composition and metabolism are likely in response to changing environmental parameters such as the availability of light and sulfide. Further research is needed to understand the impacts of the changing photosynthetic community on oxygen production and the entire microbial consortium. Our study connects genes and genomes of AP cyanobacteria to their environment, and improves understanding of cyanobacterial metabolic strategies that may have shaped Earth's redox evolution.

Unifying principles in homodimeric type I photosynthetic reaction centers: properties of PscB and the FA, FB and FX iron-sulfur clusters in green sulfur bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Jagannathan, Bharat; Golbeck, John H

2008-12-01

The photosynthetic reaction center from the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum (CbRC) was solubilized from membranes using Triton X-100 and isolated by sucrose density ultra-centrifugation. The CbRC complexes were subsequently treated with 0.5 M NaCl and ultrafiltered over a 100 kDa cutoff membrane. The resulting CbRC cores did not exhibit the low-temperature EPR resonances from FA- and FB- and were unable to reduce NADP+. SDS-PAGE and mass spectrometric analysis showed that the PscB subunit, which harbors the FA and FB clusters, had become dissociated, and was now present in the filtrate. Attempts to rebind PscB onto CbRC cores were unsuccessful. Mössbauer spectroscopy showed that recombinant PscB contains a heterogeneous mixture of [4Fe-4S]2+,1+ and other types of Fe/S clusters tentatively identified as [2Fe-2S]2+,1+ clusters and rubredoxin-like Fe3+,2+ centers, and that the [4Fe-4S]2+,1+ clusters which were present were degraded at high ionic strength. Quantitative analysis confirmed that the amount of iron and sulfide in the recombinant protein was sub-stoichiometric. A heme-staining assay indicated that cytochrome c551 remained firmly attached to the CbRC cores. Low-temperature EPR spectroscopy of photoaccumulated CbRC complexes and CbRC cores showed resonances between g=5.4 and 4.4 assigned to a S=3/2 ground spin state [4Fe-4S]1+ cluster and at g=1.77 assigned to a S=1/2 ground spin state [4Fe-4S]1+ cluster, both from FX-. These results unify the properties of the acceptor side of the Type I homodimeric reaction centers found in green sulfur bacteria and heliobacteria: in both, the FA and FB iron-sulfur clusters are present on a salt-dissociable subunit, and FX is present as an interpolypeptide [4Fe-4S]2+,1+ cluster with a significant population in a S=3/2 ground spin state.

Spatial changes in the prokaryotic community structure across a soil catena

Science.gov (United States)

Semenov, Mikhail; Zhuravleva, Anna; Tkhakakhova, Azida

2017-04-01

; Verrucomicrobia, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria - in transitional site (both soils with the total dominance of Chthoniobacter flavus). In Fluvisol of accumulative landscape position, it was revealed a completely different prokaryotic community with the dominance of Bacillus, Clostridium, Desulfovibrio, Saccharopolyspora, and Gallionella. B. longiquaesitum and B. nealsonii were the two most abundant species. In general, prokaryotic community of Fluvisol was characterized by a wide range of microorganisms involved in the biogeochemical cycles of iron (Gallionella ferruginea, Rhodoferax ferrireducens, Carboxydocella ferrireducens, Gallionella capsiferriformans, etc.) and sulfur (Desulfomonile iedjei, Sulfurospirillum sp., Desulfonatronum thiosulfatophilum, Thermodesulfovibrio thiophilus, Thermodesulfovibrio aggregans, Ammonifex thiophilus, etc.). Metabolically active archaea of soils across the catena included Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota phyla. In general, 23 species of methanogens were detected in AC position characterized by excessive moisture which explains prevailing of methane emission over consumption. It was also revealed that Methanolobus taylori, Methanococcoides methylutens, and Methanosaeta concilii were the dominant methanogens, while Methylosinus pucelana and Methylosinus acidophilus were the main methanotrophs in prokaryotic communities of studied soils. This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Projects No 14-26-00625 and No 14-26-00079.

Carbon-Isotopic Analysis of Individual Pigments by HPLC-Moving Wire-IRMS

Science.gov (United States)

Sessions, A. L.; Keely, B. J.; Hayes, J. M.

2003-12-01

We have developed a method for directly analyzing the carbon isotope ratios of individual pigments, including chlorophyll (chl) and its derivatives, by coupling a high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) to an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) via a novel `moving-wire' interface. Pigments were separated on a reversed-phase C18 column, using a binary gradient modified from Airs et al. (2001, J. Chrom. A 917, 167-177). The HPLC effluent was dried onto a continuously-spooling nickel wire, and the involatile sample residue was combusted to CO2 and transferred to the IRMS for isotopic analysis. Replicate analyses of a standard solution yield precision for delta13C of better than 0.2‰ for injections containing ~5 μ g of chl-a. A five-fold improvement in sensitivity should be attainable using capillary HPLC to further reduce solvent volumes. The biomarker potential of tetrapyrrole pigments, combined with the geochemical information recorded by isotopic compositions, makes this combination a potent tool for biogeochemical studies. As a demonstration, we analyzed chlorophyll degradation products in sediments from a lake and a salina. First, compounds derived from bacteriochlorophylls (bchl)-c and -d were extracted from sediment cores taken at Kirisjes Lake (Larsmann Hills, Antarctica). These pigments are products of green sulfur bacteria and indicate the presence of an anoxic photic zone. The δ 13C values of bchl-related compounds are near -25‰ . Using published fractionations for Chlorobium species to extrapolate, dissolved CO2 in Kirisjes Lake probably had a δ 13C value of -12 to -21‰ and was strongly influenced by the recycling of organic carbon, possibly including methane. Second, compounds derived from chl-a, bchl-c, and bchl-d were isolated from sediments taken below a living microbial mat in the hypersaline les Salines de la Trinital (South Catalonia, Spain). The sediments contain visible remnants of past microbial mats and pigment distributions