Magnetic organelle gene clusters enable bacterial growth and ATP homeostasis under oxidizing conditions
Biological organisms can produce magnetic nanoparticles made of magnetite to detect the Earth's magnetic field for orientation. The evolutionary mechanisms that led to the acquisition of this capacity remain unknown. The most ancient organisms known to perform magnetic orientation are magnetotactic bacteria. Under tight genetic control, they produce chains of magnetite nanoparticles in dedicated organelles to allow efficient navigation in aquatic environments containing molecular oxygen. Yet, these bacteria have been proposed to emerge before molecular oxygen became abundant on Earth, at a time when this navigation system could not have served its current function. Here, we show that gene clusters responsible of magnetite formation and organization enable resistance against hydrogen peroxide, a toxic oxygen-derived compound that was produced during the early stages of Earth's oxygenation when iron oxidation consumed molecular oxygen. Characterization of the nanoparticle's oxidation state supported the involvement of magnetite in resistance to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. These findings are compatible with an early emergence of magnetotactic bacteria, before natural waters became oxygenated. We propose a conceptual framework to explain the origin of magnetic orientation in bacteria, and offer tools to identify the initiation of Earth's oxygenation in a time-resolved manner.
Authors
- Laurent Modolo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0774-7719)
- Juan Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6187-5113)
- Gaël Yvert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1955-4786)
- Daniel M. Chevrier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0914-6714)
- Damien Faivre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6191-3389)
- Catherine Brutesco
- Emilie Gachon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1358-9702)
- Ingrid Marie Vincent Andersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2454-7866)
- Aurèle Piazza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7722-0955)
- Mélissa Garry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3065-7068)
- Christophe Gatel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5549-7008)
- Ramón Egli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6825-4742)
- Matthieu Amor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4299-1493)
- Julie Carlut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4493-8530)
- Fadi Choueikani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8047-9397)
- Ernesto Scoppola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6390-052X)
- Lourdes Marcano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9397-6122)
- Arash Komeili (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1554-4935)
- Agnès Dumont
- Mila Kojadinovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8110-3113)
- Chenghao Li
- Mathilde Nonnon
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Institut de physique du globe de Paris (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- Universidad de Oviedo (ES)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- Synchrotron soleil (FR)
- Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (DE)
- Laboratoire de Biologie et Modélisation de la Cellule (FR)
- Centre d’Élaboration de Matériaux et d’Études Structurales (FR)
- Institut de Biosciences et Biotechnologies (FR)
- GeoSphere Austria (AT)
- Institut de Biosciences et biotechnologies d'Aix-Marseille (FR)
- Université de Toulouse (FR)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-11-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.11.06.764584
- Primary Topic
- Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
- Type
- preprint