#Microbes used poison gas in battle for iron in the Earth's early oceans https://phys.org/news/2024-10-microbes-poison-gas-iron-earth.html
Inhibition of phototrophic iron oxidation by nitric oxide in ferruginous environments: Verena Nikeleit et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01560-9
"A new study investigates how various #bacteria excrete insoluble iron as part of their metabolic processes. Some—the phototrophic iron oxidizers—gain energy by oxidizing Fe with the help of sunlight, and others by reacting Fe with nitrate as an oxidizing agent."
Some microbes used poison gas in battle for iron in the Earth's early oceans, geomicrobiologists find
Early in the Earth's development, the atmosphere contained no oxygen. Yet the iron dissolved in the oceans was oxidized in gigantic quantities and deposited as rock. It can be seen today, for example, as banded iron ore in South Africa.University of Tübingen (Phys.org)