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Reply to Wierzchos et al.: Microorganism-induced gypsum to anhydrite phase transformation

Wei Huang, Emine Ertekin, Taifeng Wang, Luz Cruz, Micah Dailey, View ORCID ProfileJocelyne DiRuggiero, and View ORCID ProfileDavid Kisailus
PNAS November 10, 2020 117 (45) 27788-27790; first published October 22, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2018184117
Wei Huang
aDepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521;
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Emine Ertekin
bDepartment of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218;
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Taifeng Wang
cMaterials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521;
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Luz Cruz
cMaterials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521;
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Micah Dailey
bDepartment of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218;
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Jocelyne DiRuggiero
bDepartment of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218;
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David Kisailus
aDepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521;
cMaterials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521;
dDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697
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  • For correspondence: david.k@uci.edu

This article has a Letter. Please see:

  • Crystalline water in gypsum is unavailable for cyanobacteria in laboratory experiments and in natural desert endolithic habitats - October 22, 2020

See related content:

  • Mechanism of water extraction from gypsum rock by desert colonizing microorganisms
    - May 04, 2020
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In response to Wierzchos et al. (1) regarding the mechanism of water extraction from gypsum rock by desert colonizing microorganisms (2), we provide details that refute their incorrect assessments.

We carefully selected areas without microorganism colonies that only contained gypsum, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), for our culture experiments. Raman is useful for localized analysis of phase on surfaces, but here, it is complementary to XRD, which provides sample-wide detection (3, 4). Furthermore, selected area electron diffraction (SAED) confirms anhydrite, exhibiting arcs at 0.347 ± 0.003 nm and 0.278 ± 0.002 nm [(200) and (211) planes, respectively] with a [01−1] zone axis (Fig. 1 A and B). The closest reflection for gypsum, the (130) plane, was not observed. SAED and fast Fourier transform (FFT) show twofold symmetry of the arcs, while the gypsum (130) plane exhibits fourfold symmetry, which was not observed. Finally, the crystal morphology of gypsum (monoclinic) was observably different from anhydrite (orthorhombic) (Fig. 1 C−F). Thus, XRD, high-resolution …

↵1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: david.k{at}uci.edu.

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References

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    , Crystalline water in gypsum is unavailable for cyanobacteria in laboratory experiments and in natural desert endolithic habitats. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 27786–27787 (2020).
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    , Mechanism of water extraction from gypsum rock by desert colonizing microorganisms. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 10681–10687 (2020).
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Reply to Wierzchos et al.: Microorganism-induced gypsum to anhydrite phase transformation
Wei Huang, Emine Ertekin, Taifeng Wang, Luz Cruz, Micah Dailey, Jocelyne DiRuggiero, David Kisailus
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov 2020, 117 (45) 27788-27790; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2018184117

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Reply to Wierzchos et al.: Microorganism-induced gypsum to anhydrite phase transformation
Wei Huang, Emine Ertekin, Taifeng Wang, Luz Cruz, Micah Dailey, Jocelyne DiRuggiero, David Kisailus
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov 2020, 117 (45) 27788-27790; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2018184117
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