B031
Investigating Microbial Metabolism in the Archean Eon

Session ID#: 157444

Session Description:
Geochemical evidence indicates that life’s core metabolic pathways evolved in the Archean eon, early in Earth’s history.  The core microbial metabolisms of the Archean set the foundation for global biogeochemical cycles and complex eukaryotic life.  However, reconstructing the environmental conditions from which Archean metabolisms evolved, the primitive oxidoreductase proteins and other cellular machinery that performed metabolic electron transfer processes, and ecological network interactions of early microbial communities is a major challenge for understanding the evolution of life on Earth and other planetary bodies.  In this session, we invite researchers to present their work on all aspects related to investigating the evolution of life and metabolism in the Archean eon.  This includes identifying geochemical evidence of metabolic pathways or environmental conditions 4.0 to 2.5 billion years old, studying microbial metabolism in primitive analogue environments that potentially resemble conditions of Archean microbial ecosystems, laboratory studies that attempt to replicate Archean environmental conditions, laboratory studies to construct primitive enzymes/biomolecules or prebiotic reactions that led to the origin of microbial metabolic pathways, or analytical studies modeling these complex early environments and/or potential feedback systems with early microbial metabolisms.
Index Terms:

0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0424 Biosignatures and proxies [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0444 Evolutionary geobiology [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
5225 Early environment of Earth [PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY]

Primary Convener:  Elisha K. Moore, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States
Conveners:  Shaunna M Morrison, Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Washington, DC, United States, Joy Buongiorno, Maryville College, Maryville, TN, United States and Donato Giovannelli, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy
 
Nitrogen isotope compositions of microscopic organic matter in 3.2 Ga banded iron formations of Fig Tree Group, Barberton, S. Africa. (1055192)
Hikari Saito1, Akizumi Ishida2, Ko Hashizume3 and Takeshi Kakegawa2, (1)Tohoku University, Department of Earth Science, Sendai, Japan, (2)Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, (3)Ibaraki University, Department of Science, Mito, Japan
 
Paleomolecular Engineering of Biological Nitrogen Fixation (1073107)
Amanda Kathryn Garcia1,2, Alex Rivier3,4 and Betul Kacar3,4, (1)University of Wisconsin Madison, Bacteriology, Madison, WI, United States, (2)University of Wisconsin Madison, NASA Center for Early Life and Evolution, Madison, WI, United States, (3)University of Wisconsin Madison, Bacteriology, Madison, United States, (4)University of Wisconsin Madison, NASA Center for Early Life and Evolution, Madison, United States
 
Wet-dry cycling and subsurface refugia in prebiotic alkaline lake environments (1089233)
Benjamin M Tutolo1, Robert Perrin2, Shane Bossaer3, Eric Mott3, Tom Wilson3, Dan Ilg3, Alec Hutchings3, Michael Nightingale4 and Rachel M Lauer4, (1)University of Calgary, Department of Geoscience, Calgary, AB, Canada, (2)University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, (3)University of Calgary, Geoscience, Calgary, Canada, (4)University of Calgary, Geoscience, Calgary, AB, Canada
 
Mechanistic Insights on Cellular Nitrogen Isotope Fractionation by Nitrogenase and Implications for the Early nitrogen cycle (1118858)
Eunah Han1, Ashley E Maloney2, Xuyuan Ai1, Daniel Mikhail Sigman2, Sebastian Kopf3 and Xinning Zhang4, (1)Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States, (2)Princeton University, Geosciences, Princeton, United States, (3)University of Colorado at Boulder, Geological Sciences, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Princeton University, Dept. of Geosciences and Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton, NJ, United States
 
An Alternative Explanation for the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE): Weathering of Rocks Containing Minerals with Peroxy Bonds (1131079)
Victor Liu1,2, Friedemann Freund1 and Viktor Stolc3, (1)SETI Institute, Carl Sagan Center, Mountain View, United States, (2)Yale University, New Haven, United States, (3)NASA Ames Research Center, Code SRC, Moffett Field, United States
 
Methanol on the rocks: Naturally occuring reactive minerals catalyze methane oxidation to methanol and hydrocarbons (1134961)
Orion Farr1, Simon Duval1, Wolfgang Nitschke1 and Daniel Ferry2, (1)CNRS, Marseille, France, (2)CINaM-CNRS UPR 3118, Marseille, France
 
Cyanobacteria-Dominated Microbialites >120 Myr before the Great Oxygenation Event: a Correlative Micro-Analytical Perspective on Decoding Archaean Ecosystems (1144600)
Keyron Hickman Lewis1, Giorgio Gasparotto2, Assimo Maris3, Giovanni Poggiali4, John Robert Brucato5, Ilaria Baneschi6, Chiara Boschi6, Zdravko Siketić7, Milko Jakšić7, Marko Barac7, Marko Brajković7, Matea Krmpotić7, Daniela Ghica8, Mariana Stefan8 and Barbara Cavalazzi9, (1)The Natural History Museum, London, London, United Kingdom, (2)University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Bologna, Italy, (3)University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Chimica "Giacomo Ciamician", Bologna, Italy, (4)INAF Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence, Italy, (5)National Institute for Astrophysics, Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Firenze, Italy, (6)CNR, Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Pisa, Italy, (7)Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia, (8)National Institute of Materials Physics, Magurele, Romania, (9)Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali, Bologna, Italy
 
Does organic sulfur cycling by extant microbes offer a glimpse into the Archean sulfur cycle? (1149440)
Cody Sheik, University of Minnesota Duluth, Department of Biology, Duluth, United States, Emily Hyde, University of Minnesota Duluth, Large Lakes Observatory, Duluth, United States, Alexandra Atlee Phillips, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, Kathryn M Schreiner, University of Minnesota Duluth, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Duluth, United States and Sergei Katsev, University of Minnesota Duluth, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Duluth, United States
 
Organosulfur Utilization in Deep Biosphere Communities Reveals Potential Pathways Important to Biogeochemical Sulfur Cycling in the Archean (1167103)
Amanda Patsis, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Minneapolis, MN, United States, Cody Sheik, University of Minnesota Duluth, Department of Biology, Duluth, United States and Cara M Santelli, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States
 
Considerations for quantitatively evaluating habitability of extraterrestrial environments using modern microbial metabolisms (1172159)
Tymofii Sokolskyi, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI, United States, Shea Thorne, University of British Columbia, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Emilia Sakai Hernandez, University of California, Davis, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA, United States and Michael L Wong, Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC, United States
 
Diversity and functionality of deep life within the Archean granitic crust underneath the Deccan traps, India (1197313)
Rajendra Prasad Sahu1, Pinaki Sar1, Sunanda Mandal2, Sufia K. Kazy2 and Himadri Bose1, (1)Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Biotechnology, Kharagpur, India, (2)National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Biotechnology, Durgapur, India
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