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2011 Annual Science Report

Pennsylvania State University Reporting  |  SEP 2010 – AUG 2011

Executive Summary

Through an integration of education and research, the Penn State Astrobiology Research Center (PSARC) is dedicated to developing the conceptual, analytical, and technical tools to detect life, extant or extinct. This past year has been a great one for PSARC researchers. Each of our four major research projects had splendid results, novel directions, and new important papers. For example, our developing new biosignatures project produced 17 peer-reviewed papers, including multiple papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Below are highlights from each of our four research projects.

Developing New Biosignatures

The development and experimental testing of potential indicators of life is essential for providing a critical scientific basis for the exploration of life in the cosmos. In microbial cultures, potential new biosignatures can be found among isotopic ratios, elemental compositions, and chemical changes to the growth media. Additionally, life can be detected and investigated in natural systems by directing cutting-edge instrumentation towards the investigation of microbial cells, microbial fossils, and microbial geochemical products. This interdisciplinary research brings to methods to the field of astrobiology for investigating microbial life. This past year, we have applied optical microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy to Miocene and Permian sulfates, apatite-biomineralized protists, and chert-permineralized Paleoproterozoic sulfuetum. In each case, our advanced methods have revealed ancient microfossils with great sensitivity and in remarkable detail. We have also continued to look at weather of rock material as a recorder of past climate conditions and biological activity. Freeman and her research group have developed Scytonemin and F430 as new biomarker targets for astrobiological studies. We were part of a group lead by NASA Goddard to report purine diversity in primitive meteorites. We continued to develop DNA and metagenomics as method for astrobiology with a paper on deep sea sediment of the Gulf of Mexico and new expeditions to Costa Rica and Okinawa. Finally, we initiation our Citizen Science Project on thermophiles in domestic water heaters.

Biosignatures in Mission Relevant Environments

PSARC is investigating microbial life in some of Earth’s most mission-relevant ecosystems. These environments include the Dead Sea, the Chesapeake Bay impact structure, Eel River Basin methane seeps, Greenland glacier ice, and redox-stratified precambrian ocean analog sites. PSARC is targeting environments that, when studied, provide fundamental information that can serve as the basis for future solar system exploration. Combining our expertise in molecular biology, geochemistry, microbiology, and metagenomics, we are deciphering the microbiology, fossilization processes, and recoverable biosignatures from these mission-relevant environments.

Graduate students Moshe Rhodes and Katherine Dawson (House, Macalady, Freeman) published papers that reveal the unique attributes of hypersaline environments such as the Dead Sea with respect to lateral gene transfer, amino acid signatures, and membrane lipid biomarkers. Rhodes’ work revealed that while hot springs tend to degrade exotic DNA, hypersaline environments may preserve genetic material available for lateral gene transfer from a wide range of other sources. Dawson’s work showed that the degree of membrane lipid unsaturation is an important adaptation to specific salinity niches in archaeal halophiles.

Team members at Caltech (Orphan) and Penn State (House) working on marine methane seeps provided additional evidence that carbonates and silica-rich minerals forming as a result of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) entomb and record the associated microbial diversity. These results are important because the ability to differentiate between cellular remains and acellular mineral matter is critical for life detection efforts on other planets, as well as for tracking the evolution of biogeochemical cycles on Earth. They also probed the likely interactions between methane oxidation and sulfate and metal oxidants in the earth system through time.

The Brenchley laboratory and colleagues continue to develop new decontamination, authentication, and microbial cultivation strategies that allow investigation of microorganisms preserved deep within ice sheets. Their research is expanding our knowledge of the diversity and physiology of microbial cells trapped in ice.

Work completed by Astrobiology Dual Title Ph.D. student Rebecca McCauley (Macalady) showed that anoxic cave lake waters ~600 m below ground surface harbor unexpected diversity and a large percentage of uncultivated microbial taxa likely engaged in sulfur cycling.

A new collaboration has been launched between PSARC investigators (Macalady, Kump, Freeman) and MIT (Summons, Newman) to study genetic and environmental controls on hydrocarbon biomarker production in precambrian ocean analog environments.

Biosignatures in Ancient Rocks

The Earth’s Archean and Proterozoic eons offer the best opportunity for investigating a microbial world, such as might be found elsewhere in the cosmos. The ancient record on Earth provides an opportunity to see what geochemical signatures are produced by microbial life and how these signatures are preserved over geologic time. Researchers have recognized a variety of mineralogical and geochemical characteristics in ancient rocks (sedimentary and igneous rocks; paleosols) that may be used as indicators of: (i) specific types of organisms that lived in the oceans, lakes and on land, and (ii) their environmental conditions (e.g., climate; atmospheric and oceanic chemistry). These possible “biosignatures” include: (a) microfossils and stromatolites; (b) molecular structures (biomarkers) and isotopic compositions of C, N, and H in organic matter; (c) multiple S and O isotope ratios of minerals; and (d) abundance relationships and isotopic compositions of redox sensitive metals (e.g., Fe, Mo, Cr, and rare earth elements). As part of our integrated plan, we will study geochemical, isotopic, and sedimentary signatures of life in order to understand the context in which these biosignatures formed. Ultimately, we will use biosignatures in conjunction with evolutionary genomics to reveal the early history of metabolism and understand the interplay between life, oceans, and atmospheres during these early eons.

Our research on biosignatures in ancient rocks includes efforts to understand sulfur isotopic signatures recorded in ancient rocks. For example, Dr. Watanabe and Mr. Andrew Choney (Research Assistant) have been conducting TSR experiments using a variety of solid organic compounds (e.g., mixtures of alanine and glycine; dried cyanobacteria; extracted kerogen from young sediments). They have recognized that the mixtures of two amino acids (alanine and glycine) generated H2S with Δ33S values as large as +2.3‰ and Δ36S values ranging from -1 to +1. 5‰; these values are larger than those produced by alanine or glycine alone. This suggests the TSR with multiple organic compounds may generate larger Δ33S values.

This past year Kump, Arthur, Junium and Luo discovered a massive oxidation event at what is traditionally considered the end of the “Great Oxidation Event”, about 2.0 billion years ago. The evidence is a very large, negative carbon isotope excursion preserved in both organic matter and carbonates from Fennoscandia (in FAR-DEEP drill core) and also, strikingly, in Gabon, Africa. The required input of oxidized organic matter (presumably from sedimentary rock weathering) is huge, perhaps reflecting the initial, deep penetration of highly oxidizing groundwaters in Earth history (Kump et al., Science, in review).

Also, during this past year, Kasting’s group determined that the combined greenhouse effect of CH4 and N2O could have provided up to 10 degrees of warming, thereby keeping the surface warm during the Proterozoic without necessitating high CO2 levels.

Biosignatures in Extraterrestrial Environments

Efforts to detect and characterize life will occur in extraterrestrial settings during remote solar system exploration and through observations of extrasolar planets. Sigurdsson and collaborators in the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds continued research on extrasolar planets: graduate student Rachel Worth commenced project on radial transport in the solar system in collaboration with Sigurdsson and House. Pathfinder near infrared spectrograph operated at HET telescope, U-Ne calibration for near IR and implementation of NIST supplied lasercomb operated and cross-calibrated. In part due to support from NAI to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique, the NSF awarded a Major Reseach Instrumentation grant in 2011 to build a facility class Planetfinder spectrograph (PI Mahadevan). Graduate student Matthew Route, in collaboration with Professor Wolszczan, did radio observations to find sub-stellar companions to nearby stars, and graduate student Sara Gettel continued long term monitoring of bright giant stars, looking for long period exoplanets. Professor Wright continued ongoing observations of exoplanets and looking for new exoplanets, using radial velocity monitoring, and started a new project on early Solar System formation. Professor Wright continued work on the Exoplanets catalog http://exoplanets.org/. Graduate student Rachel Worth started modeling of transport of meteorite ejecta in the Solar System in collaboration with Profs House and Sigurdsson, using NAI Hawaii computing facilities. Research on early Solar System dynamical evolution continued.

Publications

  • Bailey, J. V., Salman, V., Rouse, G. W., Schulz-Vogt, H. N., Levin, L. A., & Orphan, V. J. (2011). Dimorphism in methane seep-dwelling ecotypes of the largest known bacteria. ISME J, 5(12), 1926–1935. doi:10.1038/ismej.2011.66

  • Beal, E. J., Claire, M. W., & House, C. H. (2011). High rates of anaerobic methanotrophy at low sulfate concentrations with implications for past and present methane levels. Geobiology, None, no–no. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2010.00267.x

  • Biddle, J. F., White, J. R., Teske, A. P., & House, C. H. (2011). Metagenomics of the subsurface Brazos-Trinity Basin (IODP site 1320): comparison with other sediment and pyrosequenced metagenomes. ISME J, 5(6), 1038–1047. doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.199

  • Buss, H. L., Mathur, R., White, A. F., & Brantley, S. L. (2010). Phosphorus and iron cycling in deep saprolite, Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico. Chemical Geology, 269(1-2), 52–61. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2009.08.001

  • Callahan, M. P., Smith, K. E., Cleaves, H. J., Ruzicka, J., Stern, J. C., Glavin, D. P., … Dworkin, J. P. (2011). Carbonaceous meteorites contain a wide range of extraterrestrial nucleobases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(34), 13995–13998. doi:10.1073/pnas.1106493108

  • Campos, P. F., Willerslev, E., Sher, A., Orlando, L., Axelsson, E., Tikhonov, A., … Gilbert, M. T. P. (2010). Ancient DNA analyses exclude humans as the driving force behind late Pleistocene musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) population dynamics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(12), 5675–5680. doi:10.1073/pnas.0907189107

  • Cohen, P. A., Schopf, J. W., Butterfield, N. J., Kudryavtsev, A. B., & MacDonald, F. A. (2011). Phosphate biomineralization in mid-Neoproterozoic protists. Geology, 39(6), 539–542. doi:10.1130/g31833.1

  • Colón, K. D., Ford, E. B., Lee, B., Mahadevan, S., & Blake, C. H. (2010). Characterizing transiting extrasolar planets with narrow-band photometry and GTC/OSIRIS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 408(3), 1494–1501. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.17211.x

  • Edwards, C. J., Suchard, M. A., Lemey, P., Welch, J. J., Barnes, I., Fulton, T. L., … Shapiro, B. (2011). Ancient Hybridization and an Irish Origin for the Modern Polar Bear Matriline. Current Biology, 21(15), 1251–1258. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.058

  • Fleming, S. W., Maxted, P. F. L., Hebb, L., Stassun, K. G., Ge, J., Cargile, P. A., … Santiago, B. X. (2011). ECLIPSING BINARY SCIENCE VIA THE MERGING OF TRANSIT AND DOPPLER EXOPLANET SURVEY DATA—A CASE STUDY WITH THE MARVELS PILOT PROJECT AND SuperWASP. The Astronomical Journal, 142(2), 50. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/142/2/50

  • Gill, B. C., Lyons, T. W., Young, S. A., Kump, L. R., Knoll, A. H., & Saltzman, M. R. (2011). Geochemical evidence for widespread euxinia in the Later Cambrian ocean. Nature, 469(7328), 80–83. doi:10.1038/nature09700

  • Gonzalez, B. C., Iliffe, T. M., MacAlady, J. L., Schaperdoth, I., & Kakuk, B. (2011). Microbial hotspots in anchialine blue holes: initial discoveries from the Bahamas. Hydrobiologia, 677(1), 149–156. doi:10.1007/s10750-011-0932-9

  • Grymes, S. E. R. A. (2011). J. William Schopf. Astrobiology, 11(1), 9–14. doi:10.1089/ast.2010.1129

  • Haqq-Misra, J., Kasting, J. F., & Lee, S. (2011). Availability of O 2 and H 2 O 2 on Pre-Photosynthetic Earth. Astrobiology, 11(4), 293–302. doi:10.1089/ast.2010.0572

  • Higham, T., Compton, T., Stringer, C., Jacobi, R., Shapiro, B., Trinkaus, E., … Fagan, M. (2011). The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe. Nature, 479(7374), 521–524. doi:10.1038/nature10484

  • Hoffmann, M., Hilton-Taylor, C., Angulo, A., Bohm, M., Brooks, T. M., Butchart, S. H. M., … Stuart, S. N. (2010). The Impact of Conservation on the Status of the World’s Vertebrates. Science, 330(6010), 1503–1509. doi:10.1126/science.1194442

  • House, C. H., Beal, E. J., & Orphan, V. J. (2011). The Apparent Involvement of ANMEs in Mineral Dependent Methane Oxidation, as an Analog for Possible Martian Methanotrophy. Life, 1(1), 19–33. doi:10.3390/life1010019

  • Howard, A. W., Johnson, J. A., Marcy, G. W., Fischer, D. A., Wright, J. T., Henry, G. W., … Piskunov, N. E. (2010). THE NASA-UC ETA-EARTH PROGRAM. II. A PLANET ORBITING HD 156668 WITH A MINIMUM MASS OF FOUR EARTH MASSES. The Astrophysical Journal, 726(2), 73. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/726/2/73

  • Howard, A. W., Johnson, J. A., Marcy, G. W., Fischer, D. A., Wright, J. T., Henry, G. W., … Piskunov, N. E. (2011). THE NASA-UC ETA-EARTH PROGRAM. III. A SUPER-EARTH ORBITING HD 97658 AND A NEPTUNE-MASS PLANET ORBITING Gl 785. The Astrophysical Journal, 730(1), 10. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/730/1/10

  • Howard, A. W., Marcy, G. W., Johnson, J. A., Fischer, D. A., Wright, J. T., Isaacson, H., … Ida, S. (2010). The Occurrence and Mass Distribution of Close-in Super-Earths, Neptunes, and Jupiters. Science, 330(6004), 653–655. doi:10.1126/science.1194854

  • Johnson, J. A., Clanton, C., Howard, A. W., Bowler, B. P., Henry, G. W., Marcy, G. W., … Isaacson, H. (2011). RETIRED A STARS AND THEIR COMPANIONS. VII. 18 NEW JOVIAN PLANETS. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 197(2), 26. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/197/2/26

  • Kane, S. R., Dragomir, D., Ciardi, D. R., Lee, J-W., Lo Curto, G., Lovis, C., … Wright, J. (2011). STELLAR VARIABILITY OF THE EXOPLANET HOSTING STAR HD 63454. The Astrophysical Journal, 737(2), 58. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/737/2/58

  • Kane, S. R., Henry, G. W., Dragomir, D., Fischer, D. A., Howard, A. W., Wang, X., & Wright, J. T. (2011). REVISED ORBIT AND TRANSIT EXCLUSION FOR HD 114762b. The Astrophysical Journal, 735(2), L41. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/735/2/l41

  • Kane, S. R., Howard, A. W., Pilyavsky, G., Mahadevan, S., Henry, G. W., von Braun, K., … Wright, J. T. (2011). IMPROVED ORBITAL PARAMETERS AND TRANSIT MONITORING FOR HD 156846b. The Astrophysical Journal, 733(1), 28. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/733/1/28

  • Kistler, L., & Shapiro, B. (2011). Ancient DNA confirms a local origin of domesticated chenopod in eastern North America. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(12), 3549–3554. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.08.023

  • Konhauser, K. O., Lalonde, S. V., Planavsky, N. J., Pecoits, E., Lyons, T. W., Mojzsis, S. J., … Bekker, A. (2011). Aerobic bacterial pyrite oxidation and acid rock drainage during the Great Oxidation Event. Nature, 478(7369), 369–373. doi:10.1038/nature10511

  • Kuhn, T. S., McFarlane, K. A., Groves, P., Mooers, A. Ø., & Shapiro, B. (2010). Modern and ancient DNA reveal recent partial replacement of caribou in the southwest Yukon. Molecular Ecology, 19(7), 1312–1323. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294×.2010.04565.x

  • Kumar, S., & Hedges, S. B. (2011). TimeTree2: species divergence times on the iPhone. Bioinformatics, 27(14), 2023–2024. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btr315

  • Kump, L. R., Junium, C., Arthur, M. A., Brasier, A., Fallick, A., Melezhik, V., … Luo, G. (2011). Isotopic Evidence for Massive Oxidation of Organic Matter Following the Great Oxidation Event. Science, 334(6063), 1694–1696. doi:10.1126/science.1213999

  • Lee, B. L., Ge, J., Fleming, S. W., Stassun, K. G., Gaudi, B. S., Barnes, R., … Xie, J-W. (2011). MARVELS-1b: A SHORT-PERIOD, BROWN DWARF DESERT CANDIDATE FROM THE SDSS-III MARVELS PLANET SEARCH. The Astrophysical Journal, 728(1), 32. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/728/1/32

  • Lippold, S., Knapp, M., Kuznetsova, T., Leonard, J. A., Benecke, N., Ludwig, A., … Hofreiter, M. (2011). Discovery of lost diversity of paternal horse lineages using ancient DNA. Nat Comms, 2, 450. doi:10.1038/ncomms1447

  • Loveland-Curtze, J., Miteva, V. I., & Brenchley, J. E. (2011). Evaluation of a new fluorimetric DNA–DNA hybridization method. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 57(3), 250–255. doi:10.1139/w10-121

  • Luo, G., Wang, Y., Algeo, T. J., Kump, L. R., Bai, X., Yang, H., … Xie, S. (2011). Enhanced nitrogen fixation in the immediate aftermath of the latest Permian marine mass extinction. Geology, 39(7), 647–650. doi:10.1130/g32024.1

  • Luo, G., Wang, Y., Yang, H., Algeo, T. J., Kump, L. R., Huang, J., & Xie, S. (2011). Stepwise and large-magnitude negative shift in δ13Ccarb preceded the main marine mass extinction of the Permian–Triassic crisis interval. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 299(1-2), 70–82. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.10.035

  • Margesin, R., & Miteva, V. (2011). Diversity and ecology of psychrophilic microorganisms. Research in Microbiology, 162(3), 346–361. doi:10.1016/j.resmic.2010.12.004

  • Meyer, K. M., MacAlady, J. L., Fulton, J. M., Kump, L. R., Schaperdoth, I., & Freeman, K. H. (2011). Carotenoid biomarkers as an imperfect reflection of the anoxygenic phototrophic community in meromictic Fayetteville Green Lake. Geobiology, 9(4), 321–329. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2011.00285.x

  • Muirhead, P. S., Edelstein, J., Erskine, D. J., Wright, J. T., Muterspaugh, M. W., Covey, K. R., … Lloyd, J. P. (2011). Precise Stellar Radial Velocities of an M Dwarf with a Michelson Interferometer and a Medium-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectrograph. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 123(904), 709–724. doi:10.1086/660802

  • Newman, D. K., Orphan, V. J., & Reysenbach, A-L. (2012). Molecular Biology’s Contributions to Geobiology. Fundamentals of Geobiology, None, 228–249. doi:10.1002/9781118280874.ch13

  • Redman, S. L., Lawler, J. E., Nave, G., Ramsey, L. W., & Mahadevan, S. (2011). THE INFRARED SPECTRUM OF URANIUM HOLLOW CATHODE LAMPS FROM 850 nm to 4000 nm: WAVENUMBERS AND LINE IDENTIFICATIONS FROM FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTRA. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 195(2), 24. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/195/2/24

  • Rhodes, M. E., Spear, J. R., Oren, A., & House, C. H. (2011). Differences in lateral gene transfer in hypersaline versus thermal environments. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11(1), 199. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-199

  • Roberson, A. L., Roadt, J., Halevy, I., & Kasting, J. F. (2011). Greenhouse warming by nitrous oxide and methane in the Proterozoic Eon. Geobiology, 9(4), 313–320. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2011.00286.x

  • Saltzman, M. R., Young, S. A., Kump, L. R., Gill, B. C., Lyons, T. W., & Runnegar, B. (2011). Pulse of atmospheric oxygen during the late Cambrian. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(10), 3876–3881. doi:10.1073/pnas.1011836108

  • Schopf, J. W., & Kudryavtsev, A. B. (2011). Biogenicity of Apex Chert microstructures. Nature Geosci, 4(6), 346–347. doi:10.1038/ngeo1172

  • Shapiro, B., Ho, S. Y. W., Drummond, A. J., Suchard, M. A., Pybus, O. G., & Rambaut, A. (2010). A Bayesian Phylogenetic Method to Estimate Unknown Sequence Ages. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 28(2), 879–887. doi:10.1093/molbev/msq262

  • Taylor, P. D., Vinn, O., Kudryavtsev, A., & William Schopf, J. (2010). Raman spectroscopic study of the mineral composition of cirratulid tubes (Annelida, Polychaeta). Journal of Structural Biology, 171(3), 402–405. doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2010.05.010

  • W. Howard, A., Johnson, J. A., W. Marcy, G., A. Fischer, D., T. Wright, J., Bernat, D., … Piskunov, N. E. (2010). THE CALIFORNIA PLANET SURVEY. I. FOUR NEW GIANT EXOPLANETS. The Astrophysical Journal, 721(2), 1467–1481. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/721/2/1467

  • William Schopf, J. (2010). The paleobiological record of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis Research, 107(1), 87–101. doi:10.1007/s11120-010-9577-1

  • Workman, C., Dalen, L., Vartanyan, S., Shapiro, B., Kosintsev, P., Sher, A., … Barnes, I. (2011). Population-level genotyping of coat colour polymorphism in woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(17-18), 2304–2308. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.08.020

  • Wright, J. T., Fakhouri, O., Marcy, G. W., Han, E., Feng, Y., Johnson, J. A., … Piskunov, N. (2011). The Exoplanet Orbit Database. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 123(902), 412–422. doi:10.1086/659427

  • Wright, J. T., Veras, D., Ford, E. B., Johnson, J. A., Marcy, G. W., Howard, A. W., … Valenti, J. (2011). THE CALIFORNIA PLANET SURVEY. III. A POSSIBLE 2:1 RESONANCE IN THE EXOPLANETARY TRIPLE SYSTEM HD 37124. The Astrophysical Journal, 730(2), 93. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/730/2/93

  • (2011).  Shipboard Scientific Party: Deep Hot Biosphere. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Expedition Report.
  • Brainard, J.L. & Ohmoto, H.  (In Review).  Effects of climatic and sea-level changes on the marine methane hydrate inventory.  Nature Climate Change.
  • Brantley, S.L., Yesavage, T.A. & Bazilevskaya, E.A.  (2011).  Secondary minerals and regolith profiles on basaltic rocks in northeastern U.S. and in Svalbard, an Arctic Mars analogue site.  AGU Fall meeting.  San Francisco, CA.
  • Chakraborty, A., Anadarao, B.G., Mahadevan, S., Planets, P.T.H., Coudé du Foresto, V., Gelino, D.M. & Ribas, I.  (2010).  The Search for Exoplanets in India.
  • Dawson, K.S., Freeman, K.H. & MacAlady, J.L.  (2011).  Molecular characterization of archaeal lipids across a hypersaline gradient.  Goldschmidt Conference.  Prague.
  • Dawson, K.S., Freeman, K.H. & MacAlady, J.L.  (In Revision).  Response of archaeal halophile membrane lipids chemistry to salinity levels.  Applied & Environmental Microbiology.
  • Fulton, J.M., Arthur, M.A. & Freeman, K.H.  (To Be Submitted).  Scytonemin from desert soils in Holocene Black Sea sediments.  Organic Geochemistry.
  • Fulton, J.M., Bird, L.R., Orphan, V. & Freeman, K.H.  (In Preparation).  Coenzyme F430 carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures: a test of anaerobic methanotrophic pathway via reversed methanogenic biochemistry.  Organic Geochemistry.
  • Fulton, T.L., Wagner, S.M.(.u., Fisher, C. & Shapiro, B.  (In Press).  Nuclear DNA from the extinct passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) confirms its phylogenetic placement within the Columbinae.  Annals of Anatomy.
  • Hamasaki, H., Watanabe, Y. & Ohmoto, H.  (In Preparation).  An experimental investigation of multiple sulfur isotope fractionations during heterogeneous reactions between SO2 and activated carbon.  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
  • Kane, S., Gelino, D., Dragomir, D., Howard, A., Knutson, H., Krick, J., Laughlin, G., Mahadevan, S., Von Braun, K. & Wright, J.  (2011).  Detecting the Signature of Eccentric Exoplanets During Periastron Passage.
  • Kane, S.R., Mahadevan, S., Von Braun, K., Laughlin, G., Howard, A., Ciardi, D.R., Planets, P.T.H., Coudé du Foresto, V., Gelino, D.M. & Ribas, I.  (2010).  First Results from the Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS).
  • Letts, B., Fulton, T.L., Stiller, M., Andrews, T., MacKay, G., Popkp, R. & Shapiro, B.  (In Press).  Ancient DNA reveals genetic continuity in woodland caribou of the Central Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada.  Arctic.
  • Liermann, L.J., Albert, I., Brantley, S.L., Buss, H.L. & Minyard, M.  (In Preparation).  Relating microbial community structure and geochemistry in the Bisley volcaniclastic watershed in Luquillo Mountains, Puerto Rico.  Geomicrobiology.
  • Lorenzen, E.D., Nogues-Bravo, D., Orlando, L., Weinstock, J., Binladen, J., Marske, K.A., Authors, 5.a., Shapiro, B., Rahbek, C. & Willerslev, E.  (In Press).  Individualistic species responses to climate and humans determine Late Quaternary megafaunal extinction and survival.  Nature.
  • MacAlady, J.L., Albrecht, H., Welander, P., Fulton, J., Schaperdoth, I., White, T., Freeman, K., Newman, D. & Summons, R.  (2011).  Proterozoic analog ecosystem and organic biomarkers in a Florida sinkhole.  Goldschmidt Meeting.  Prague.
  • Mahadevan, S., Ramsey, L., Redman, S., Zonak, S., Wright, J., Wolszczan, A., Endl, M., Zhao, B., Planets, P.T.H., Coudé du Foresto, V., Gelino, D.M. & Ribas, I.  (2010).  The Habitable Zone Planet Finder Project: A Proposed High Resolution NIR Spectrograph for the Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET) to Discover Low Mass Exoplanets around M Stars.
  • Marlow, J., Steele, J., Harrison, B. & Orphan, V.  (2011).  Endolithic anaerobic oxidation of methane at cold seeps.  Goldschmidt Conference.  Prague.
  • Mason, O, J.S., Naehr, T., Lee, R., Thomas, R., Bailey, J. & Orphan, V.  (In Review).  Comparison of archaeal and bacterial diversity in methane seep carbonates and host sediments, Eel River Basin and Hydrate Ridge, USA.  Geobiology.
  • McCauley, R.L., Jones, D.S., Schaperdoth, I. & MacAlady, J.L.  (2011).  Lago Infinito (Frasassi Caves, Italy) Microbial Community as an Analog for pre-Phototrophic Earth.  Astrobiology, 11(4): 367-389.  doi:10.1089/ast.2011.1400
  • McCauley, R.L., Jones, D.S., Schaperdoth, I., Steinberg, L. & MacAlady, J.L.  (2010).  Metabolic strategies in energy-limited microbial communities in the anoxic subsurface.  AGU Fall Meeting Supplement.  San Francisco, CA.
  • Miteva, V.  (2011).  Microorganisms associated with glaciers.  In: V. P. Singh, U.K.H.a.P.S. (Eds.).  Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers.  Springer.
  • Miteva, V.  (2011).  Session Discussion Leader “Microbes in the Cryobiosphere”.  Gordon Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology.  Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.
  • Miteva, V., Sowers, T. & Brenchley, J.  (2011).  Authenticity of the indigenous deep ice core microbial diversity: Assessing exogenous contamination throughout the drilling process of the NEEM ice core.  Greenland. 4th International Conference on Polar and Alpine Microbiology.  Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  • Nasdala, L., Beyssac, O., Schopf, J.W. & Bleisteiner, B.  (Application of Raman-based images in the Earth Sciences).  In Press.  In: Zoubir, A. (Eds.).  Amsterdam: Springer.
  • Ohmoto, H., Bevacqua, D.C., Watanabe, Y. & Yamaguchi, K.  (In Review).  Iron-poor, but uranium- and lithium-rich, Archaean oceans.  Nature Geosciences.
  • Ohmoto, H., Lasaga, A.C., Watanabe, Y. & Otake, T.  (In Preparation).  Anomalous isotope fractionations of sulfur.  Geochemical.
  • Ohmoto, H., Lasaga, A.C., Watanabe, Y. & Yamaguchi, K.  (In Preparation).  Evidence for the fully-oxygenated oceans and atmosphere during the Archean Eons.  Monograph of the Geological Society of America.
  • Orlando, L., Ginolhac, A., Raghavan, M., Vilstrup, J., Rasmussen, M., Magnussen, K., Steinmann, K., Kapranov, P., Thompson, J.F., Shapiro, B., Zazula, G., Froese, D., Hofreiter, M., Al-Rasheid, K.A.S., Mundy, J., Gilbert, M.T.P. & Willerslev, E.  (In Press).  Single-molecule ancient DNA sequencing of a Pleistocene horse bone.  Genome Research.
  • Orphan, V., Dekas, A., Green, A., House, C., Marlow, J., Steele, J., McGlynn, S. & Levin, L.  (2011).  Microbial partnerships and methane-oxidation in the deep sea.  Goldschmidt Conference.  Prague.
  • Orphan, V.J., Dekas, A.E., Poretsky, R. & Amend, J.  (2010).  Methane-oxidizing Archaea Fix Nitrogen in Cooperation with Sulfate-reducing Bacteria in Deep-Sea Methane Seeps.  Program and Abstracts, AbSciCon10.  Houston, TX.
  • Otake, T. & Watanabe, Y.  (In Press).  Using multiple sulfur isotopes to understand the Earth’s surface environments during the Archean era.  Geochemical.
  • Rhodes, M.E., Oren, A. & House, C.H.  (In Review).  Revisiting Dead Sea Haloarchaeal Blooms Through High Throughput Sequencing.  Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
  • Schopf, J.W. & Kudryavtsev, A.B.  (2011).  Confocal laser scanning microscopy and Raman (and fluorescence) spectroscopic imagery of permineralized Cambrian and Neoproterozoic fossils.  In: M. Laflamme, S.D.a.J.S. (Eds.).  Quantifying the Evolution of Early Life: Numerical Approaches to the Evaluation of Fossils and Ancient Ecosystems.  Amsterdam: Springer.
  • Schopf, J.W.  (In Press).  The fossil record of cyanobacteria.  In: Whitton, B.A. (Eds.).  Ecology of Cyanobacteria II. Their Diversity in Space and Time.  Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer.
  • Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtssev, A.B., Tripathi, B. & Czaja, A.D.  (2010).  Three-dimensional Morphological (CLSM) and Chemical (Raman) Imagery of CellularlyMineralized Fossils.  In: Bottjer, P.A.A.a.D.J. (Eds.).  Taphonomy: Process and Bias Through Time.  Amsterdam: Springer.
  • Seth, L., Miteva, V. & Brenchley, J.  (2011).  Diversity among small-subunit rRNA gene clones obtained from Estisol 240 and Coasol based drilling fluid and post coring chips from a Greenland glacier ice core.  Penn State Undergraduate Poster Exhibition.
  • Watanabe, Y., Choney, A. & Ohmoto, H.  (In Preparation).  Multiple isotope fractionations of sulfur during thermochemical sulfate reduction by solid organic matter.  Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
  • Zerkle, A.L., MacAlady, J.L., Jones, D.S. & Farquhar, J.  (2011).  S isotope investigation of a redox-stratified system dominated by chemotrophic sulfide oxidation.  Goldschmidt Meeting.  Prague.