409: Marine Methane Mostly Munched

This episode: Microbes in low-oxygen zones in the ocean consume significant amounts of methane anaerobically! Download Episode (5.2 MB, 7.6 minutes) Show notes: Microbe of the episode: Mojiang henipavirus News item Takeaways Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Fortunately there's not as much of it in the atmosphere, but even smaller amounts can have significant effects on the climate. One source of methane is low-oxygen zones in the ocean, where certain kinds of archaea make methane as part of their energy metabolism. This study found that other anaerobic microbes in the same areas consume much of this methane, preventing it from reaching the atmosphere. Journal Paper: Thamdrup B, Steinsdóttir HGR, Bertagnolli AD, Padilla CC, Patin NV, Garcia‐Robledo E, Bristow LA, Stewart FJ. 2019. Anaerobic methane oxidation is an important sink for methane in the ocean's largest oxygen minimum zone. Limnol Oceanogr 64:2569–2585. Other interesting stories: Correlated microbiome metabolites with compounds in blood of twins (paper) Bacteria inhibit soil fungi via airborne chemicals (paper)   Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS. Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show at Twitter or Facebook.

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