The interplay of microbially mediated and abiotic reactions in the biogeochemical Fe cycle

Emily D. Melton, Elizabeth D. Swanner, Sebastian Behrens, Caroline Schmidt, Andreas Kappler

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

551 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many iron (Fe) redox processes that were previously assumed to be purely abiotic, such as photochemical Fe reactions, are now known to also be microbially mediated. Owing to this overlap, discerning whether biotic or abiotic processes control Fe redox chemistry is a major challenge for geomicrobiologists and biogeochemists alike. Therefore, to understand the network of reactions within the biogeochemical Fe cycle, it is necessary to determine which abiotic or microbially mediated reactions are dominant under various environmental conditions. In this Review, we discuss the major microbially mediated and abiotic reactions in the biogeochemical Fe cycle and provide an integrated overview of biotic and chemically mediated redox transformations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)797-808
Number of pages12
JournalNature Reviews Microbiology
Volume12
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 18 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge funding for several research grants from the German research Foundation (DFG), a Marie Curie ERG grant to C.S. (PERF04-GA-2008-239252), a Margarete von Wrangell grant to C.S. and a Landesgraduiertenfoer-derung fellowship to E.D.M. (GZ l 1.2_7631.2/Melton). This study was also supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’ s Seventh Framework Program (FP/2007– 2013)/ERC Grant, agreement number 307320 – MICROFOX.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

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