Jaap Damsté Sinninghe - Selected Publications#

1. Sinninghe Damsté J.S., Wakeham S.G., Kohnen M.E.L., Hayes J.M. and de Leeuw J.W. (1993) A 6,000-year sedimentary molecular record of chemocline excursions in the Black Sea. Nature 362, 827-829.

One of the first examples of the application of isorenieratene, a biomarker for photosynthetic but anaerobic green sulfur bacteria. This study showed that the recent shoaling of the chemocline of the Blacke Sea, thought to be a consequence of the increased use of river water for irrigation of incoming river water, also happened in the geological past and may, thus, also have a natural origin.

2. Kuypers M.M.M.*, Pancost R. and Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (1999) A large and abrupt fall in atmospheric CO2 concentrations during Cretaceous times. Nature 399, 342-345. (*PhD student of JSSD).

First evidence based on the stable carbon isotopic composition of fossil leaf waxes for a major drop in the atmospheric CO2 concentration during the widespread burial of organic carbon in deep sea sediments during the Cenomanian/Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2.

3. Sinninghe Damsté J.S., Strous M., Rijpstra W.I.C., Hopmans E.C., Geenevasen J.A.J., van Duin A.C.T., van Niftrik L.A. and Jetten M.S.M. (2002) Linearly concatenated cyclobutane (ladderane) lipids form a dense bacterial membrane. Nature 419, 708-712.

Discovery of chemically unprecedented membrane lipids that fulfill an essential role in the physiology of bacteria able to oxidize ammonium anaerobically. Structure later confirmed by total synthesis in the group of the Nobel Prize (1990) winner James Corey.

4. Schouten S., Hopmans, E.C., Schefuß, E. and Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (2002) Distributional variations in marine crenarchaeotal membrane lipids: a new tool for reconstructing ancient sea water temperatures? Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett. 204, 265-274.

First description and calibration of a paleothermometer that is based on subtle temperature-related adaptations of the cell membrane of archae living in the ocean. This method is currently used in palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology in laboratories worldwide to estimate temperatures of the ocean up to 200 million years ago and its application has led to important discoveries concerning past climate changes.

5. Sinninghe Damsté J.S., Muyzer G., Abbas B., Rampen S.W., Massé G., Allard W.G., Belt S.T., Robert J.-M., Rowland S.J., Moldowan J.M., Barbanti S.M., Fago F.J., Denisevich P., Dahl J., Trindade L.A.F. and Schouten S. (2004) The rise of the rhizosolenoid diatoms. Science 304, 584-587.

First combination of 18S rRNA gene phylogeny with the molecular fossil record to understand the evolution of a major group of phytoplankton (now responsible for 25% of the primary productivity on Earth) in the ocean in the last 100 million year. Forms the theoretical basis for the concept of “age-related biomarkers” widely applied in petroleum exploration. .

6. Wuchter C.*, Abbas B., Coolen M.J.L., Herfort L., van Bleijswijk J., Timmers P., Strous M., Teira E., Herndl G.J., Middelburg J.J., Schouten S. and Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (2006) Archaeal nitrification in the ocean. PNAS 103, 12317-12322. (*PhD student of JSSD).

This study showed that archaea in the ocean are involved in the oxidation of ammonium, a process that at that time was thought to be exclusively performed by nitrifying bacteria. This study, after the publication of a nitrifying archaeon isolated from an aquarium in 2005, showed for the first time the significance of archaeal nitrification in coastal and open ocean settings and its important role in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle.

7. Weijers J.W.H.*, Schouten S., van den Donker J.C., Hopmans E.C. and Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (2007) Environmental controls on bacterial tetraether membrane lipid distribution in soils. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 71, 703-713. (*PhD student of JSSD).

This study forms the basis for a new continental palaeothermometer based on membrane lipids (identified earlier by Sinninghe Damsté) that are produced in soils (and rivers and lakes) by bacteria. This paleothermometer is now applied worldwide by many laboratories to perform reconstruction of past continental temperature.

8. Villanueva L., Sinninghe Damsté J.S. and Schouten S. (2014) A re-evaluation of the archaeal membrane lipid biosynthetic pathway. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 12, 438–448. This study pioneered the linking of molecular biology data to archaeal membrane lipid synthesis.

9. Witkowski C.R.*, Weijers J.W.H., Blais B., Schouten, S. and Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (2018) Molecular fossils from phytoplankton reveal secular pCO2 trend over the Phanerozoic. Science Advances 4, eaat4556. (*PhD student of JSSD).

This study provides the longest pCO2 record based on a single proxy and basically confirmed and detailed predictions made by the late Bob Berner.

10. Sollai M.*, Villanueva L., Hopmans E.C., Reichart G.-J. and Sinninghe Damsté J.S. (2019) A combined lipidomic and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing approach reveals archaeal sources of intact polar lipids in the stratified Black Sea water column. Geobiology 17, 91-109. (*PhD student of JSSD). One of the first integrated lipodomic-RNA sequencing studies showing substantial archaeal contributions to microbes in the Black Sea.