In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a new hypothesis proposed by MIT scientists suggests that oxygen finally began to accumulate in the atmosphere because of the interactions between certain marine microbes and minerals in ocean sediments. These interactions helped prevent oxygen from being consumed, triggering a self-reinforcing process that made more and more oxygen available to accumulate in the atmosphere.
What led to the study’s success?
The team searched the scientific literature and identified a group of microbes that partially oxidize organic matter in the deep ocean today. These microbes belong to the bacterial group SAR202 and their partial oxidation is performed by an enzyme, Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase or BVMO.
The team conducted a phylogenetic analysis to see how far back the microbe and the gene for the enzyme could be traced. They found that the bacteria did indeed have ancestry that predates the GOE, and that the gene for the enzyme could be traced across different microbial species, even pre-GOE.
To confirm the hypothesis, the researchers added that the study would require much more follow-up, from experiments in the lab to studies in the field, and everything in between. With their new study, the team has introduced a new suspect to the age-old case of what oxygenates Earth’s atmosphere.
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