Back to Search Start Over

A hidden sedimentary phosphate pool inside benthic foraminifera from the Peruvian upwelling region might nucleate phosphogenesis

Authors :
Julia Weissenbach
Alexandra-Sophie Roy
Nicolaas Glock
Joachim Schönfeld
Tanita Wein
Andrew W. Dale
Tal Dagan
Christian Woehle
Dennis Romero
Source :
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 289:14-32
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
Elsevier BV, 2020.

Abstract

Phosphorus is essential for all living organisms, being a component of DNA and RNA and the energy carrier ATP. Phosphogenesis is a main sink of reactive phosphorus in the oceans. The present study reports the presence of intracellular dissolved inorganic phosphate (DIP) in benthic foraminifera from the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). The mean intracellular DIP concentration was 28 ± 3 mM; two to three orders-of-magnitude higher than in the ambient pore waters. The biological implications of the high intracellular phosphate enrichment may be related to the synthesis of polyphosphates or phospholipids for cell-membranes. The comparative genomics analysis of multiple species of foraminifera from different environments reveals that foraminifers encode the genes required for both phospholipid and polyphosphate metabolism. Rapid phosphogenesis and phosphorite formation associated with foraminiferal tests is hypothesized due to the pre-concentration of intracellular phosphate in these organisms. The results indicate that foraminifera may play a key and previously overlooked role in the global phosphorus cycle.

Details

ISSN :
00167037
Volume :
289
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....f3172f30d7121830975f3a2e03b24bc4
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2020.08.002