A new study by Professor Ludmilla Aristilde found that minerals drive phosphorus release at enzyme-like rates.

Iron oxides, which are documented phosphorus (P) sinks as adsorbents, have been shown to catalyze organic P dephosphorylation, implicating these minerals as catalytic traps in P cycling. However, quantitative evaluation of this abiotic catalysis is lacking. Here, we investigated the dephosphorylation kinetics of eight ribonucleotides, with different nucleobase structures and P stoichiometry, reacting with common iron oxides. X-ray absorption spectroscopy determined that 0–98% of mineral-bound P was recycled inorganic P (Pi). Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization with mass spectrometry demonstrated short-lived triphosphorylated and monophosphorylated ribonucleotides bound to goethite. Based on Michaelis-Menten type modeling of the kinetic evolution of both dissolved and mineral-bound Pi, maximal Pi production rates from triphosphorylated ribonucleotides reacted with goethite (1.9–16.1 μmol Pi h–1 ggoethite–1) were >5-fold higher than with hematite and ferrihydrite; monophosphorylated ribonucleotides generated only mineral-bound Pi at similar rates (0.0–12.9 μmol Pi h–1 gmineral–1) across minerals. No clear distinction was observed between purine-based and pyrimidine-based ribonucleotides. After normalization to mineral-dependent Pi binding capacity, resulting catalytic turnover rates implied surface chemistry-controlled reactivity. Ribonucleotide–mineral complexation mechanisms were identified with infrared spectroscopy and molecular modeling. We estimated iron oxide-catalyzed rates in soil (0.01–5.5 μmol Pi h–1 gsoil) comparable to reported soil phosphatase rates, highlighting both minerals and enzymes as relevant catalysts in P cycling.

From discovering plastic-eating bacterium to finding a new catalytic process in soils, the Aristilde Research Group had a busy year in 2024. It published seven papers and submitted four more for revie...