Methane bubbles flow out of sediment on the ocean floor. (Image source: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.)
Scientists reveal how microbes collaborate to consume potent greenhouse gas
Microbes that filter methane from the ocean floor may hold new clues to addressing climate change, USC Dornsife researchers and collaborators find.
Key points:
- Scientists discovered deep-sea microbes using bio-electrical conductors to collaborate and consume methane, a potent greenhouse gas, before it escapes into the atmosphere.
- This is the first direct evidence of how these natural marine microbial partners transmit electricity between cells.
- Understanding how these electric microbial partnerships work could inspire new approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Methane — a potent greenhouse gas — constantly seeps from the ocean floor and can rise into the atmosphere. Now, an international team led by scientists with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences has uncovered how tiny microorganisms work together as a living electrical network to consume some of this gas before it escapes, acting as a powerful living filter.