Scientists have found bacteria that feed on toxic gases
Researchers from Bremen found in the deep sea, in a boiling spring, a microbe that feeds on ethane, which with a share of up to 15% is the second most common component of natural gases. It is also quite toxic gas with a fourth hazard class.
A research team led by Gunther Wegener of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, in collaboration with researchers from other institutes, discovered a previously unknown microbe on the bottom of the Guaymas Basin at a depth of 2,000 m in the Gulf of California.
Some components of natural gas, such as propane or butane, are destroyed by bacteria. However, for the decomposition of the main components of natural gas - methane and ethane - in accordance with the current state of research, two different types of organisms are needed that form the so-called consortium: archaea, which decompose natural gas, and bacteria, which combine the electrons released in the process into sulfate, one of the richest compounds in the ocean.
The study of biochemical processes in consortia in laboratories has so far been extremely difficult: these organisms grow very slowly and divide only every few months. Thus, available biomass has always been scarce.
The newly discovered archaea were named Ethanoperedens thermophilum, which means "the heat-loving ethan eater." His partner bacteria are familiar with other consortia. So scientists have found the gene sequences of these archaea in many deep-sea vents. And now they finally understood their function.
A research team led by Gunther Wegener of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, in collaboration with researchers from other institutes, discovered a previously unknown microbe on the bottom of the Guaymas Basin at a depth of 2,000 m in the Gulf of California.
Some components of natural gas, such as propane or butane, are destroyed by bacteria. However, for the decomposition of the main components of natural gas - methane and ethane - in accordance with the current state of research, two different types of organisms are needed that form the so-called consortium: archaea, which decompose natural gas, and bacteria, which combine the electrons released in the process into sulfate, one of the richest compounds in the ocean.
The study of biochemical processes in consortia in laboratories has so far been extremely difficult: these organisms grow very slowly and divide only every few months. Thus, available biomass has always been scarce.
The newly discovered archaea were named Ethanoperedens thermophilum, which means "the heat-loving ethan eater." His partner bacteria are familiar with other consortia. So scientists have found the gene sequences of these archaea in many deep-sea vents. And now they finally understood their function.
