141 New Advances in Geobiology

This session will focus on new research at the intersection between geologic and biologic processes with special emphasis on novel materials and methods, new field sites, and advances at the intersections of scientific fields.

Monday, 20 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 305

Metabolic Diversity of the Ferrovales and Potential Contributions to Iron Oxidation

Paper number: 141-13
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 4:45 PM – 5:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a global environmental problem that pollutes tens of thousands of kilometers of streams worldwide.  One method of bioremediating AMD relies on leveraging the metabolisms of naturally occurring iron-oxidizing species to oxidize iron, effectively removing it from the stream environment. Ferrovumis an iron-oxidizing group commonly found in AMD ecosystems globally. Multiple members of Ferrovum can co-occur in a single site and Ferrovum-dominated communities oxidize iron faster than other communities in field and laboratory-based studies. However, we do not understand how or why these taxa oxidize iron rapidly. Here, we investigated the taxonomic and functional diversity in Ferrovum using over 200 genomes and metagenome assembled genomes from publicly available datasets to. We found 22 unique species with significant differences in their capability for biogeochemical cycling. For example, some species have the potential to fix nitrogen or produce flagella. We also recovered genes consistent with anoxygenic photosynthesis in some of our genomes. This is the first evidence that some members of the Ferrovales are capable of photoferrotrophy.  We propose that metabolic diversity in Ferrovum facilitates coexistence of species of Ferrovales (without competitively exclusion). We will leverage this data to test our hypothesis that coexistence of Ferrovales increases the number of microenvironments that can host iron-oxidizers and therefore increase the iron oxidation rate and allow more effective bioremediation in AMD sites.  

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-413452

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