Why do microbes make minerals?

Abstract

Prokaryotes have been shaping the surface of the Earth and impacting geochemical cycles for the past four billion years. Biomineralization, the capacity to form minerals, is a key process by which microbes interact with their environment. While we keep improving our understanding of the mechanisms of this process (“how?”), questions around its functions and adaptive roles (“why?”) have been less intensively investigated. Here, we discuss biomineral functions for several examples of prokaryotic biomineralization systems, and propose a roadmap for the study of microbial biomineralization through the lens of adaptation. We also discuss emerging questions around the potential roles of biomineralization in microbial cooperation and as important components of biofilm architectures. We call for a shift of focus from mechanistic to adaptive aspects of biomineralization, in order to gain a deeper comprehension of how microbial communities function in nature, and improve our understanding of life co-evolution with its mineral environment.