Aquatic and terrestrial cyanobacteria produce methane
Evidence is accumulating to challenge the paradigm that biogenic methanogenesis, considered a strictly anaerobic process, is exclusive to archaea. We demonstrate that cyanobacteria living in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments produce methane at substantial rates under light, dark, oxic...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
15 Jan 2020
|
| In: |
Science advances
Year: 2020, Volume: 6, Issue: 3 |
| ISSN: | 2375-2548 |
| DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.aax5343 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax5343 Verlag: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/3/eaax5343 
|
| Author Notes: | M. Bižić, T. Klintzsch, D. Ionescu, M.Y. Hindiyeh, M. Günthel, A.M. Muro-Pastor, W. Eckert, T. Urich, F. Keppler, H.-P. Grossart |
| Summary: | Evidence is accumulating to challenge the paradigm that biogenic methanogenesis, considered a strictly anaerobic process, is exclusive to archaea. We demonstrate that cyanobacteria living in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments produce methane at substantial rates under light, dark, oxic, and anoxic conditions, linking methane production with light-driven primary productivity in a globally relevant and ancient group of photoautotrophs. Methane production, attributed to cyanobacteria using stable isotope labeling techniques, was enhanced during oxygenic photosynthesis. We suggest that the formation of methane by cyanobacteria contributes to methane accumulation in oxygen-saturated marine and limnic surface waters. In these environments, frequent cyanobacterial blooms are predicted to further increase because of global warming potentially having a direct positive feedback on climate change. We conclude that this newly identified source contributes to the current natural methane budget and most likely has been producing methane since cyanobacteria first evolved on Earth. - Cyanobacteria, the most ancient and abundant photoautotrophs on Earth, produce the greenhouse gas methane during photosynthesis. - Cyanobacteria, the most ancient and abundant photoautotrophs on Earth, produce the greenhouse gas methane during photosynthesis. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Gesehen am 20.02.2020 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 2375-2548 |
| DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.aax5343 |