生物成因铁氧化物矿物矿化模型研究

项目名称： 生物成因铁氧化物矿物矿化模型研究

项目编号： No.40872037

项目类型： 面上项目

立项/批准年度： 2009

项目学科： 生物科学

项目作者： 周根陶

作者单位： 中国科学技术大学

项目金额： 52万元

中文摘要： 生物矿物以其独特的矿物学组成、结晶形貌和同位素组成与非生物成因矿物有着明显区别， 因此被作为生物标志物示踪地质圈中微生物生态系统的演化。铁是地球表生环境下最丰富的元素之一，也是最重要的营养元素之一。涉及铁氧化物溶解/矿化的微生物新陈代谢作用在铁、碳和硫等元素地球化学循环中起着重要作用。本项目试图综合分子生物学－纳米科学和技术－结晶化学等多学科的研究方法和手段，通过与生物矿化作用相关的生物大分子脂类、聚多糖和蛋白质以及氨基酸来模拟细胞膜、磁质体膜等生物膜结构，在接近生物和自然水体的环境条件下，研究组装的模板结构诱导和控制的铁氧化物的成核、生长和组装过程，从分子水平揭示其矿化机制。成果的取得，有助于认识自然界中生物的和晶体化学的控制因素对生物矿物成因的协同作用，同时进一步确立其生物成因标志，为寻找地球过去生命和地外生命提供实验矿物学证据。

中文关键词： 微生物地球化学；纳米地质材料；仿生矿化；生物大分子；铁氧化物/羟基氧化物

英文摘要： Biogenic minerals or biominerials regulated by the growth of organisms and/or biomacromolecules tend to posses peculiar chemicical and isotopic compositions, and morphology as well as hierachically assembled superstructure that distinguish them from the abiogenic counterparts. Therefore biominerals can serve as biomarkers for tracing the evolution of microorganism ecosystem in geosphere. Iron is one of the most abundant elements within the Earth's surface or near surface, and is also one of the most important nutrient elements. The microbial metabolism that involves the dissolution and/or mineralization of iron oxides/oxyhydroxides plays substantial role in cylcing of iron, carbon and sulfur in geosphere. In this proposal, a combination of the multidisciplinary research approachs will be applied to investigate the biomineralization mechanism of ferric oxide/oxyhydroxide minerals. The first is to use biomacromolecules associated with biomineralization, such as phospholipids, proteins, amino acids, and polysaccharides to mimic cell or magnetosome membrance structures. The second is to investigate that the assembled templates induce and control the nucleation, growth and assembly of iron oxides/oxyhydroxides at near biological or natural waters pHs. The results will help further insight into the biomineralization mechanism of ferric oxides/oxyhydroxides, and reveal that the biological genetic and crystallochemical factors may cooperate in biomineralization. In addition, the expected results will experimentally provide some mineralogical criteria in the search for evidence of past life on Earth and other planets.

英文关键词： Microbiogeochemistry; Nanominerals; Biomimetic mineralization; Biomacromolecules; Ferric oxides/oxyhydroxides