Aerobic growth at nanomolar oxygen concentrations
- 25 October 2010
- journal article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 107 (44), 18755-18760
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1013435107
Abstract
Molecular oxygen (O(2)) is the second most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere, but in many natural environments, its concentration is reduced to low or even undetectable levels. Although low-oxygen-adapted organisms define the ecology of low-oxygen environments, their capabilities are not fully known. These capabilities also provide a framework for reconstructing a critical period in the history of life, because low, but not negligible, atmospheric oxygen levels could have persisted before the "Great Oxidation" of the Earth's surface about 2.3 to 2.4 billion years ago. Here, we show that Escherichia coli K-12, chosen for its well-understood biochemistry, rapid growth rate, and low-oxygen-affinity terminal oxidase, grows at oxygen levels of ≤ 3 nM, two to three orders of magnitude lower than previously observed for aerobes. Our study expands both the environmental range and temporal history of aerobic organisms.Keywords
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Multiple Evolutionary Histories of Dioxygen Reductases: Implications for the Origin and Evolution of Aerobic RespirationMolecular Biology and Evolution, 2008
- Palaeoproterozoic ice houses and the evolution of oxygen-mediating enzymes: the case for a late origin of photosystem IIPhilosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 2008
- Fermentative Utilization of Glycerol by Escherichia coli and Its Implications for the Production of Fuels and ChemicalsApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2008
- The cbb3 Oxidases Are an Ancient Innovation of the Domain BacteriaMolecular Biology and Evolution, 2008
- Production of hydrogen peroxide in the atmosphere of a Snowball Earth and the origin of oxygenic photosynthesisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006
- Dating the rise of atmospheric oxygenNature, 2004
- Aerobic carbon cycling and cerium oxidation: significance for Archean oxygen levels and banded iron-formation depositionPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 1991
- Bacteroids from soybean root nodules: respiration and N 2 -fixation in flow-chamber reactions with oxyleghaemoglobinProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1990
- Dynamics of microbial growth in surface layers of a coastal marine sediment ecosystemMarine Ecology Progress Series, 1988
- THE GROWTH OF BACTERIAL CULTURESAnnual Review of Microbiology, 1949