Anaerobic 3-Methylhopanoid Production By An Acidophilic Phototrophic Purple Bacterium

Abstract Bacterial lipids are well preserved in ancient rocks and certain ones have been used as indicators of specific bacterial metabolisms or environmental conditions existing at the time of rock deposition. Here we show that an anaerobic bacterium produces 3-methylbacteriohopanepolyols (3-MeBHPs), pentacyclic lipids previously detected only in aerobic bacteria and widely used as biomarkers for methane-oxidizing bacteria. Both Rhodopila globiformis, a phototrophic purple nonsulfur bacterium isolated from an acidic warm spring in Yellowstone, and a newly isolated Rhodopila species from a geochemically similar spring in Lassen Volcanic National Park (USA), synthesized 3-MeBHPs and a suite of related BHPs and contained the genes encoding the necessary biosynthetic enzymes. Our results show that 3-MeBHPs can be produced under anoxic conditions and challenges the use of 3-MeBHPs as biomarkers of oxic conditions in ancient rocks and as prima facie evidence that methanotrophic bacteria were active when the rocks were deposited.