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Size distributions of nanoparticles from magnetotactic bacteria as signatures of biologically controlled mineralization

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Published/Copyright: March 7, 2015
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 98 Issue 11-12

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of magnetite nanoparticle size distributions in magnetotactic bacteria. The methods described in the paper can be used to determine the origin of natural magnetite nanoparticle samples. We analyzed 36 histograms related to bacterial, inorganic, and biomimetic nanoparticle sizes. Using statistical software we concluded that the size of the nanoparticles in cultured magnetotactic bacteria follows an extreme value distribution. Magnetite in uncultured samples can be treated as a two-component mixture containing extreme value and/or log-normally distributed nanoparticles. Analysis of the time-dependent formation of bacterial magnetite revealed that the magnetite size distribution transforms from the initial log-normal (young bacterial culture) through normal-like toward the extreme value distribution (evolved culture). It seems that at a certain moment during bacterial magnetite formation, the bacterial system starts to behave as a closed system. The closing of the system must be followed by another unknown process, because restriction of the nutrient supply into magnetosomes is insufficient for the generation of the extreme value distribution. Based on our analysis, approximately 50% of the magnetite particles in the martian meteorite ALH 84001 follow an extreme value distribution

Keywords : Biomineralization; magnetite; magnetotactic bacteria; meteorite ALH 84001; extreme value
Received: 2012-12-4
Accepted: 2013-7-22
Published Online: 2015-3-7
Published in Print: 2013-11-1

© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs. Lessons from a lost technology: The secrets of Roman concrete
  2. Crossroads in Earth and Planetary Materials. H-D interdiffusion in brucite at pressures up to 15 GPa
  3. Amorphous Materials: Properties, structure, and durability. North American microtektites are more oxidized than tektites
  4. Actinides in Geology, Energy, and the Environment. Vorlanite, (CaU6+)O4, from Jabel Harmun, Palestinian Autonomy, Israel
  5. What Lurks in the Martian Rocks and Soil? Investigations of Sulfates, Phosphates, and Perchlorates. Mössbauer parameters of iron in sulfate minerals
  6. What Lurks in the Martian Rocks and Soil? Investigations of Sulfates, Phosphates, and Perchlorates. Looking for jarosite on Mars: The low-temperature crystal structure of jarosite
  7. Compressibility and structural stability of two variably hydrated olivine samples. (FO97Fa3) to 34 GPa by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy
  8. Interaction between composition and temperature effects on non-bridging oxygen and high-coordinated aluminum in calcium aluminosilicate glasses
  9. Topotactic transformation and dehydration of the zeolite gismondine to a novel Ca feldspar structure
  10. The origin of melanophlogite, a clathrate mineral, in natrocarbonatite lava at Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania
  11. Clay mineral evolution
  12. Experimental determination of solubilities of sodium tetraborate (borax) in NaCl solutions, and a thermodynamic model for the Na-B(OH)3-Cl-SO4 system to high-ionic strengths at 25 °C
  13. Thermodynamic basis for evolution of apatite in calcified tissues
  14. A first-principles calculation of the elastic and vibrational anomalies of lizardite under pressure
  15. Acoustic velocity measurements for stishovite across the post-stishovite phase transition under deviatoric stress: Implications for the seismic features of subducting slabs in the mid-mantle
  16. A new framework topology in the dehydrated form of zeolite levyne
  17. Mid- and far-infrared spectra of synthetic CaMg2(Al4–xGax)(Si1–yGey)O10(OH,OD)2- clintonite: Characterization and assignment of the Ca-Oinner and Ca-Oouter stretching bands
  18. Mechanism of mineral transformations in krennerite, Au3AgTe8, under hydrothermal conditions
  19. Cubic perovskite polymorph of strontium metasilicate at high pressures
  20. Size distributions of nanoparticles from magnetotactic bacteria as signatures of biologically controlled mineralization
  21. Medium-range order in disordered K-feldspars by multinuclear NMR
  22. Infrared signatures of OH-defects in wadsleyite: A first-principles study
  23. K-Ar dating and δ18O-δD characterization of nanometric illite from Ordovician. K-bentonites of the Appalachians: Illitization and the Acadian-Alleghenian tectonic activity
  24. New morphological, chemical, and structural data of woolly erionite-Na from Durkee, Oregon, U.S.A.
  25. New experimental data on phase relations for the system Na2CO3-CaCO3 at 6 GPa and 900–1400 ºC
  26. Melting and subsolidus phase relations in the system Na2CO3-MgCO3±H2O at 6 GPa and the stability of Na2Mg(CO3)2 in the upper mantle
  27. A critical comment on Ertl et al. (2012): “Limitations of Fe2+ and Mn2+ site occupancy in tourmaline: Evidence from Fe2+- and Mn2+-rich tourmaline”
  28. Letter. Developing vanadium valence state oxybarometers (spinel-melt, olivine-melt, spinel-olivine) and V/(Cr+Al) partitioning (spinel-melt) for martian olivine-phyric basalts
https://doi.org/10.2138/am.2013.4429
Keywords for this article
Biomineralization; magnetite; magnetotactic bacteria; meteorite ALH 84001; extreme value

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs. Lessons from a lost technology: The secrets of Roman concrete
  2. Crossroads in Earth and Planetary Materials. H-D interdiffusion in brucite at pressures up to 15 GPa
  3. Amorphous Materials: Properties, structure, and durability. North American microtektites are more oxidized than tektites
  4. Actinides in Geology, Energy, and the Environment. Vorlanite, (CaU6+)O4, from Jabel Harmun, Palestinian Autonomy, Israel
  5. What Lurks in the Martian Rocks and Soil? Investigations of Sulfates, Phosphates, and Perchlorates. Mössbauer parameters of iron in sulfate minerals
  6. What Lurks in the Martian Rocks and Soil? Investigations of Sulfates, Phosphates, and Perchlorates. Looking for jarosite on Mars: The low-temperature crystal structure of jarosite
  7. Compressibility and structural stability of two variably hydrated olivine samples. (FO97Fa3) to 34 GPa by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy
  8. Interaction between composition and temperature effects on non-bridging oxygen and high-coordinated aluminum in calcium aluminosilicate glasses
  9. Topotactic transformation and dehydration of the zeolite gismondine to a novel Ca feldspar structure
  10. The origin of melanophlogite, a clathrate mineral, in natrocarbonatite lava at Oldoinyo Lengai, Tanzania
  11. Clay mineral evolution
  12. Experimental determination of solubilities of sodium tetraborate (borax) in NaCl solutions, and a thermodynamic model for the Na-B(OH)3-Cl-SO4 system to high-ionic strengths at 25 °C
  13. Thermodynamic basis for evolution of apatite in calcified tissues
  14. A first-principles calculation of the elastic and vibrational anomalies of lizardite under pressure
  15. Acoustic velocity measurements for stishovite across the post-stishovite phase transition under deviatoric stress: Implications for the seismic features of subducting slabs in the mid-mantle
  16. A new framework topology in the dehydrated form of zeolite levyne
  17. Mid- and far-infrared spectra of synthetic CaMg2(Al4–xGax)(Si1–yGey)O10(OH,OD)2- clintonite: Characterization and assignment of the Ca-Oinner and Ca-Oouter stretching bands
  18. Mechanism of mineral transformations in krennerite, Au3AgTe8, under hydrothermal conditions
  19. Cubic perovskite polymorph of strontium metasilicate at high pressures
  20. Size distributions of nanoparticles from magnetotactic bacteria as signatures of biologically controlled mineralization
  21. Medium-range order in disordered K-feldspars by multinuclear NMR
  22. Infrared signatures of OH-defects in wadsleyite: A first-principles study
  23. K-Ar dating and δ18O-δD characterization of nanometric illite from Ordovician. K-bentonites of the Appalachians: Illitization and the Acadian-Alleghenian tectonic activity
  24. New morphological, chemical, and structural data of woolly erionite-Na from Durkee, Oregon, U.S.A.
  25. New experimental data on phase relations for the system Na2CO3-CaCO3 at 6 GPa and 900–1400 ºC
  26. Melting and subsolidus phase relations in the system Na2CO3-MgCO3±H2O at 6 GPa and the stability of Na2Mg(CO3)2 in the upper mantle
  27. A critical comment on Ertl et al. (2012): “Limitations of Fe2+ and Mn2+ site occupancy in tourmaline: Evidence from Fe2+- and Mn2+-rich tourmaline”
  28. Letter. Developing vanadium valence state oxybarometers (spinel-melt, olivine-melt, spinel-olivine) and V/(Cr+Al) partitioning (spinel-melt) for martian olivine-phyric basalts
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