Scientists Have Sequenced The Genome Of Iron-Breathing Microbes

Chemistry





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The Chocolate Pot Spring in Yellowstone National Park gets its name from its color, which is a product of its iron. Microorganisms in its water live off this iron instead of oxygen. Nathaniel W. Fortney

It doesn't matter how metal you think you are, you'll never be as metal as a bacterium that breaths iron instead of oxygen. If you're a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, however, you can at least get in on the act by explaining how these microbes function.