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Trace metal availability and the evolution of biogeochemistry

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 4, pages 597–598 (2023)Cite this article

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Biogeochemistry is controlled by a small set of microbial-encoded proteins containing redox-sensitive transition metals as their core catalytic centre. Understanding how the environmental distribution and availability of these metals influences microbial functional diversity will unlock fundamental knowledge into Earth and life coevolution.

Earth’s geosphere and biosphere have coevolved, ultimately keeping the planet habitable for the last ~4 billion years1. Among the numerous events that controlled the life-planet trajectory (including the Moon-forming impact, onset of plate tectonics and evolution of land plants), the change in planetary surface redox conditions had the greatest impact, influencing mineralogy, geochemistry and biology2.

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Fig. 1: Feedbacks between availability of trace elements, metabolic innovation and planetary surface redox state through deep time.

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Acknowledgements

D.G. thanks C. Vetriani, S. Morrison, M. de Moor, P. Falkowski, E. Shock and R. Hazen for constructive discussion. This work was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program Grant Agreement No. 948972—COEVOLVE—ERC-2020-STG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Donato Giovannelli

  2. Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnologies, National Research Council, CNR-IRBIM, Ancona, Italy

    Donato Giovannelli

  3. Department of Marine and Coastal Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Donato Giovannelli

  4. Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA

    Donato Giovannelli

  5. Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Donato Giovannelli

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Correspondence to Donato Giovannelli.

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Giovannelli, D. Trace metal availability and the evolution of biogeochemistry. Nat Rev Earth Environ 4, 597–598 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00477-y

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