Hard shell, soft blue-green core

Ecology, processes, and modern applications of calcification in terrestrial cyanobacteria

authored by: Patrick Jung, Laura Briegel-Williams, Stefan Dultz, Carina Neff, Gunnar Heibrock, Curtis Monger, Nicole Pietrasiak, Lena Keller, Julia Hale, Jan Friedek, Timo Schmidt, Georg Guggenberger, Michael Lakatos
Abstract: Cyanobacteria are the oldest photoautotrophic lineage that release oxygen during photosynthesis, an ability that possibly evolved as far as 3.5 billion years ago and changed the Earth's environment—both in water and on land. Linked to the mechanism of carbon accumulation by cyanobacteria during photosynthesis are their calcifying properties, a process of biologically mediated mineralization of CO₂ by precipitation with calcium to CaCO₃. In recent decades, scientific research has mainly focused on calcifying cyanobacteria from aquatic habitats, while their terrestrial relatives have been neglected. This review not only presents the ecology of terrestrial calcifying cyanobacteria in caves and biocrusts but also discusses recent biotechnological applications, such as the production of living building materials through microbial-induced carbonate precipitation for structural engineering, which has the potential to open a new and efficient pathway for mitigating climate change, e.g., as carbon capture and storage technology.
Organisation(s): Institute of Soil Science
Institute of Earth System Sciences
External Organisation(s): Hochschule Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences
New Mexico State University
University of Nevada Las Vegas
Augsburg University of Applied Sciences
Type: Review article
Journal: iScience
Volume: 27
Publication date: 20.12.2024
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111280 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{6142444bdae5497892bbc2744b266c8d,
title = "Hard shell, soft blue-green core: Ecology, processes, and modern applications of calcification in terrestrial cyanobacteria",
abstract = "Cyanobacteria are the oldest photoautotrophic lineage that release oxygen during photosynthesis, an ability that possibly evolved as far as 3.5 billion years ago and changed the Earth's environment—both in water and on land. Linked to the mechanism of carbon accumulation by cyanobacteria during photosynthesis are their calcifying properties, a process of biologically mediated mineralization of CO2 by precipitation with calcium to CaCO3. In recent decades, scientific research has mainly focused on calcifying cyanobacteria from aquatic habitats, while their terrestrial relatives have been neglected. This review not only presents the ecology of terrestrial calcifying cyanobacteria in caves and biocrusts but also discusses recent biotechnological applications, such as the production of living building materials through microbial-induced carbonate precipitation for structural engineering, which has the potential to open a new and efficient pathway for mitigating climate change, e.g., as carbon capture and storage technology.",
keywords = "Biogeochemistry, Ecology, Geochemistry, Microbiology",
author = "Patrick Jung and Laura Briegel-Williams and Stefan Dultz and Carina Neff and Gunnar Heibrock and Curtis Monger and Nicole Pietrasiak and Lena Keller and Julia Hale and Jan Friedek and Timo Schmidt and Georg Guggenberger and Michael Lakatos",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Author(s)",
year = "2024",
month = dec,
day = "20",
doi = "10.1016/j.isci.2024.111280",
language = "English",
volume = "27",
journal = "iScience",
issn = "2589-0042",
publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",
number = "12",
}