Early anaerobic metabolisms
Open accessAbstract
Before the advent of oxygenic photosynthesis, the biosphere was driven by anaerobic metabolisms. We catalogue and quantify the source strengths of the most probable electron donors and electron acceptors that would have been available to fuel early-Earth ecosystems. The most active ecosystems were probably driven by the cycling of H 2 and Fe 2+ through primary production conducted by anoxygenic phototrophs. Interesting and dynamic ecosystems would have also been driven by the microbial cycling of sulphur and nitrogen species, but their activity levels were probably not so great. Despite the diversity of potential early ecosystems, rates of primary production in the early-Earth anaerobic biosphere were probably well below those rates observed in the marine environment. We shift our attention to the Earth environment at 3.8 Gyr ago, where the earliest marine sediments are preserved. We calculate, consistent with the carbon isotope record and other considerations of the carbon cycle, that marine rates of primary production at this time were probably an order of magnitude (or more) less than today. We conclude that the flux of reduced species to the Earth surface at this time may have been sufficient to drive anaerobic ecosystems of sufficient activity to be consistent with the carbon isotope record. Conversely, an ecosystem based on oxygenic photosynthesis was also possible with complete removal of the oxygen by reaction with reduced species from the mantle.
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Anoxygenic photosynthesis consumes H2.
“Anoxygenic photosynthesis also consumes H2 [e.g., (198)].”
From The Archean atmosphere (2020) · cites this paper as [198]
The ancestral metabolism performed by sulfate reducers was likely to have been sulfite reduction or sulfur disproportionation-and perhaps also disulfide disproportionation-since sulfur and sulfite would be produced abundantly from volcanic and hydrothermal SO2, whereas sulfate prior to the advent of oxygen would probably have had only very limited, localized significance.
“The ancestral metabolism performed by sulfate reducers was likely to have been sulfite reduction or sulfur disproportionation—and perhaps also disulfide disproportionation, as newer findings suggest [176]—since sulfur and sulfite would be produced abundantly from volcanic and hydrothermal SO2, whereas sulfate, prior to the advent of oxygen, would probably have had only very limited, localized”
From Early bioenergetic evolution (2013) · cites this paper as [177]
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Iron-oxidizing microbial ecosystems thrived in late Paleoproterozoic redox-stratified oceans
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Why the atmosphere became oxygenated: A proposal
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Biogenic Fe(III) minerals: from formation to diagenesis and preservation in the rock record
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Viruses of sulfur oxidizing phototrophs encode genes for pigment, carbon, and sulfur metabolisms
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- Authors
- Canfield, D. E., Rosing, M. T., & Bjerrum, C.
- Affiliations
- Nordic Centre for Earth Evolution (NordCEE) and Institute of Biology, University of Southern DenmarkCampusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2006-09-08
- Volume
- 361
- Issue
- 1474
- Pages
- 1819-1836
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC1664682
- OpenAlex
- W2116409582
- Cited by
- 417
- References
- 101
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 1.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Keywords
- early Earth, anaerobic metabolism, electron donors, electron acceptors, hydrogen, ferrous iron, anoxygenic phototrophs, primary production, sulfur cycling, nitrogen cycling, carbon isotope record, carbon cycle, oxygenic photosynthesis, prebiotic chemistry
- MeSH terms
- Anaerobiosis, Bacteria, Anaerobic, Biological Evolution, Hydrogen, Iron, Nitrogen, Sulfur
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