Table 1 Isotopic discrimination, productivity, and O2 sensitivity of extant carbon fixation pathways.
From: The curious consistency of carbon biosignatures over billions of years of Earth-life coevolution
Pathway | Associated taxaa | Modern productivity (Pg C/yr)b | 13C/12C isotope discrimination Δδ13C (‰) | Isotope discrimination references | Pathway O2 sensitive?b |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CBB | Cyanobacteria [97] photoautotrophs Proteobacteria [100] autotrophic Alpha-, Beta-, Gammaproteobacteria Chloroflexi [101] Oscillochloridaceae Firmicutes [102] Sulfobacillus spp. | ~100 | ~10 to 35 | Yes | |
rTCA | Aquificae [106] Aquificales Chlorobi [107] Chlorobiales Nitrospirae [108] autotrophs Proteobacteria Magnetococcus sp. MC-1 Desulfobacter hydrogenophilus | ~1 | ~2 to 23 | Yes | |
roTCA | Aquificae Thermosulfidibacter takaii Proteobacteria sulfur-reducing Deltaproteobacteria | Unknown | Unknown | N/A | Unknown |
HP/HB | Crenarchaeota [109] Sulfolobales Marine group I [110] Thaumarchaeota [111] | ~0.7 | ~0 to 4 | [44] | No |
Wood–Ljungdahl | Euryarchaeota [112] Archaeoglobales methanogens Firmicutes acetogens Planctomycetes [113] anaerobic ammonium-oxidizers Proteobacteria autotrophic Deltaproteobacteria Spirochaetes [113] Treponema primitia | ~0.1 | ~5 to 80 | Yes | |
DC/HB | Crenarchaeota Thermoproteales Desulfurococcales | <0.1 | ~0 to 4 | Yes | |
3HP | Chloroflexi Chloroflexaceae | <0.1 | ~0 to 14 | No | |
Reductive glycinec | Proteobacteria Candidatus Phosphitivorax anaerolimi | <0.1 | Unknown | N/A | Unknown |