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Electrons, life and the evolution of Earth's oxygen cycle
Open accessAbstract
The biogeochemical cycles of H, C, N, O and S are coupled via biologically catalysed electron transfer (redox) reactions. The metabolic processes responsible for maintaining these cycles evolved over the first ca 2.3 Ga of Earth's history in prokaryotes and, through a sequence of events, led to the production of oxygen via the photobiologically catalysed oxidation of water. However, geochemical evidence suggests that there was a delay of several hundred million years before oxygen accumulated in Earth's atmosphere related to changes in the burial efficiency of organic matter and fundamental alterations in the nitrogen cycle. In the latter case, the presence of free molecular oxygen allowed ammonium to be oxidized to nitrate and subsequently denitrified. The interaction between the oxygen and nitrogen cycles in particular led to a negative feedback, in which increased production of oxygen led to decreased fixed inorganic nitrogen in the oceans. This feedback, which is supported by isotopic analyses of fixed nitrogen in sedimentary rocks from the Late Archaean, continues to the present. However, once sufficient oxygen accumulated in Earth's atmosphere to allow nitrification to out-compete denitrification, a new stable electron 'market' emerged in which oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration ultimately spread via endosymbiotic events and massive lateral gene transfer to eukaryotic host cells, allowing the evolution of complex (i.e. animal) life forms. The resulting network of electron transfers led a gas composition of Earth's atmosphere that is far from thermodynamic equilibrium (i.e. it is an emergent property), yet is relatively stable on geological time scales. The early coevolution of the C, N and O cycles, and the resulting non-equilibrium gaseous by-products can be used as a guide to search for the presence of life on terrestrial planets outside of our Solar System.
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“The rise of atmospheric O2 during the Great Oxidation Event at 2.4 Ga enabled the production of nitrate (NO3−) through the microbial process of nitrification (the oxidation of NH4+ to NO3−) (Falkowski and Godfrey, 2008).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Falkowski and Godfrey, 2008
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Metadata
- Authors
- Falkowski, P. G., & Godfrey, L. V.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Falkowski, Paul G
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2008-05-16
- Volume
- 363
- Issue
- 1504
- Pages
- 2705-2716
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC2606772
- OpenAlex
- W2115585878
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 115
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 2.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Keywords
- oxygen cycle, Great Oxidation Event, biogeochemical cycles, redox reactions, electron transfer, nitrogen cycling, denitrification, nitrification, ammonia oxidation, organic matter burial, oxygenic photosynthesis, aerobic respiration, endosymbiosis, horizontal gene transfer, eukaryotic evolution, atmospheric composition, biosignatures, exoplanet habitability
- MeSH terms
- Carbon, Electrons, Eukaryotic Cells, Biological Evolution, Microbiology, Models, Biological, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Photosynthesis, Earth, Planet, Feedback, Physiological
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