Nathan Yee

About

Nathan Yee is a Professor at Rutgers University in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. His research interests focus on environmental geochemistry and geomicrobiology, with the goal of understanding the impact of microorganisms on the geochemical cycling of inorganic elements. He employs microscopic, spectroscopic, and genetic techniques to investigate microbe-mineral interactions, biotransformation of contaminants, and anaerobic redox reactions. His work involves developing models based on experimental data to predict microbial behavior, including activity mechanisms and conditions under which these mechanisms operate. The principal area of his current research is centered on elucidating the molecular pathways of microbial-catalyzed redox reactions involving mercury and metalloid elements such as selenium, tellurium, and arsenic.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Environmental chemistry
• Ecology
• Inorganic chemistry
• Geology
• Biology
• Geochemistry
• Oceanography
• Astrobiology

Selected publications

• Anoxic photogeochemical oxidation of manganese carbonate yields manganese oxide

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 69 citations

  moles hydrogen per moles incident photons. Our results suggest that manganese oxides could have formed abiotically on the surface in shallow waters and on continents during the Archean eon in the absence of molecular oxygen.

  DOI

• Abundant phosphorus expected for possible life in Enceladus’s ocean

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 51 citations

  y). These results provide further evidence of habitable ocean conditions and show that any oceanic life would not be inhibited by low P availability.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The evolving redox chemistry and bioavailability of vanadium in deep time

  Geobiology · 2020 · 37 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  ) could have acted as a metabolic electron acceptor and phosphate mimicking enzyme inhibitor. The coevolving chemical speciation and biological functions of V due to earth's changing surface redox conditions demonstrate the crucial links between the geosphere and biosphere in the evolution of metabolic electron transfer pathways and biogeochemical cycles from the Archean to Phanerozoic.

  DOI

• Production of methylmercury by methanogens in mercury contaminated estuarine sediments

  FEMS Microbiology Letters · 2020 · 25 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Anaerobic bacteria are known to produce neurotoxic methylmercury [MeHg] when elemental mercury [Hg(0)] is provided as the sole mercury source. In this study, we examined the formation of MeHg in anaerobic incubations of sediment collected from the San Jacinto River estuary (Texas, USA) amended with aqueous Hg(0) to investigate the microbial communities involved in the conversion of Hg(0) to MeHg. The results show that the addition of the methanogen inhibitor 2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES) signific…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anoxic photochemical weathering of pyrite on Archean continents

  Science Advances · 2022-06-29 · 24 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Sulfur is an essential element of life that is assimilated by Earth’s biosphere through the chemical breakdown of pyrite. On the early Earth, pyrite weathering by atmospheric oxygen was severely limited, and low marine sulfate concentrations persisted for much of the Archean eon. Here, we show an anoxic photochemical mechanism of pyrite weathering that could have provided substantial amounts of sulfate to the oceans as continents formed in the late Archean. Pyrite grains suspended in anoxic ferr…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Selenium redox reactions and isotope ratios: The role of microbial and abiotic Selenium oxidation

  NSF · $78k · 2015–2019

• RAPID: Transformation of Elemental Mercury Dispersed by Flooding During Hurricane Harvey

  NSF · $50k · 2017–2018

• Molecular studies of dissimilatory selenium reduction by subsurface microorganisms

  NSF · $400k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Jihua Hao

  22 shared

• Jennifer L. Goff

  Purchase College

  16 shared

• Paul G. Falkowski

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  15 shared

• David A. Fowle

  University of Kansas

  15 shared

• Dimitrios Ntarlagiannis

  14 shared

• Jeremy B. Fein

  University of Notre Dame

  14 shared

• Tamar Barkay

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  14 shared

• Lee Slater

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  13 shared

Labs

• Earth and Planetary Science Isotope Laboratory (EPSIL)PI

Education

• Ph.D., Earth and Planetary Sciences

  Rutgers University

  2005

• M.S., Earth and Planetary Sciences

  Rutgers University

  2002

• B.S., Earth and Planetary Sciences

  Rutgers University

  2000

Awards & honors

• 2009 Houtermans Medal, European Society for Geochemistry
• 2010 Academic Excellence Award for Excellence in Teaching, R…
• 2010 Rutgers Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Schol…

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• Robert Sherrellh-57
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