Ancient Microbes Discovered To Be Key Source Of Methane

The discovery of methane-metabolizing genes in ancient microbes is changing how scientists understand the global carbon cycle.

AsianScientist (Oct. 17, 2016) – Scientists in Australia have discovered a major group of organisms contributing to climate change. The findings of the study were published in Nature Microbiology.

Deputy Head of The University of Queensland’s Australian Center for Ecogenomics Professor Gene Tyson said the previously unknown group of methane-metabolizing microorganisms appeared to be ancient and widespread in nature. Tyson added that methane-producing and consuming organisms played an important role in greenhouse gas emissions and consumption, contributing to climate change.

Last year Tyson’s lab was part of an international project which discovered a new group of methane-metabolizing organisms called Bathyarchaeota, also found in a wide range of environments.

“Traditionally, these type of methane-metabolizing organisms occur within a single cluster of microorganisms called Euryarchaeota,” he said. “We have now found two new clusters of microorganisms, leading us to wonder how many other types of methane-metabolizing microorganisms are out there.”

Lead author and Australian Center for Ecogenomics Associate Dr. Inka Vanwonterghem said the newly-discovered group of methanogens so far contained five genomes, but there could well be more.

“There are many questions we will need to answer in future, including ‘can these organisms be grown in the lab and at large scale to produce methane, what is their role in the global carbon cycle and climate change, and what is the evolutionary history of these organisms?’” Vanwonterghem said.

The researchers proposed that the new group be called Verstraetearchaeota after Professor Willy Verstraete, an eminent microbiologist at Ghent University, Belgium.


The article can be found at: Vanwonterghem et al. (2016) Methylotrophic Methanogenesis Discovered in the Archaeal Phylum Verstraetearchaeota.

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Source: University of Queensland; Photo: Pixabay.
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