Life may have originated in a hydrothermal habitat, but the extent that contemporary thermophilic microbes and their environments reflect those on early Earth is unclear. Here, Colman et al. evaluate covariation in microbial taxonomy, metabolism and phylogeny as a function of hot spring geochemistry, suggesting moderately acidic springs as early Earth analogs.
- Daniel R. Colman
- Lisa M. Keller
- Eric S. Boyd
