AI Summary

Scientists in Korea have identified iron‑oxidizing microorganisms and the genes that enable them in marine sediments beneath Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf, an area devoid of light and oxygen. Laboratory tests showed that a protein encoded by these microbes can oxidize iron, a process that could explain how large iron ore deposits formed in Earth’s early oceans. The discovery challenges the prevailing view that ancient photosynthetic bacteria were solely responsible for iron precipitation. It provides a new mechanism for the accumulation of iron in ancient marine environments.

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