title: Origin of microbial biomineralization and magnetotaxis during the Archean.
abstract: Microbes that synthesize minerals, a process known as microbial biomineralization, contributed substantially to the evolution of current planetary environments through numerous important geochemical processes. Despite its geological significance, the origin and evolution of microbial biomineralization remain poorly understood. Through combined metagenomic and phylogenetic analyses of deep-branching magnetotactic bacteria from theNitrospiraephylum, and using a Bayesian molecular clock-dating method, we show here that the gene cluster responsible for biomineralization of magnetosomes, and the arrangement of magnetosome chain(s) within cells, both originated before or near the Archean divergence between theNitrospiraeandProteobacteriaThis phylogenetic divergence occurred well before the Great Oxygenation Event. Magnetotaxis likely evolved due to environmental pressures conferring an evolutionary advantage to navigation via the geomagnetic field. Earth's dynamo must therefore have been sufficiently strong to sustain microbial magnetotaxis in the Archean, suggesting that magnetotaxis coevolved with the geodynamo over geological time.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; weilin0408@gmail.com kirschvink@caltech.edu yxpan@mail.iggcas.ac.cn.|France-China Bio-Mineralization and Nano-Structures Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4075-7414
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Greig A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.affiliation: Genomic Medicine, J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037.
authors.forename: Qiyun
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3568-6271
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.|France-China Bio-Mineralization and Nano-Structures Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Yinzhao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037.
authors.forename: Evguenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kopylova
authors.affiliation: College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037.|Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4004.
authors.forename: Dennis A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bazylinski
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Rixiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125; weilin0408@gmail.com kirschvink@caltech.edu yxpan@mail.iggcas.ac.cn.|Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan.
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kirschvink
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; weilin0408@gmail.com kirschvink@caltech.edu yxpan@mail.iggcas.ac.cn.|France-China Bio-Mineralization and Nano-Structures Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Yongxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005075:Biological Evolution; D015870:Gene Expression; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D055944:Magnetosomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D020560:Proteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000071442:Taxis Response
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins
keywords: Archean; geodynamo; magnetotactic bacteria; magnetotaxis; microbial biomineralization