Methanogen microbes drive global warming

A newly discovered microbe found thriving in a thick subsurface layer of soil that has previously remained frozen in northern Sweden’s permafrost appears set to play a significant role in future global warming.

A team of researchers, led by Associate Professor Gene Tyson at the University of Queensland’s Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, bypassed traditional methods of cultivating microbes in the lab and used DNA from soil samples to reconstruct a near-complete genome of the microbe -  an archeal phylotype called Candidatus Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis.

Also known as a ‘methanogen’, the methane-producing microbe frequently dominated the thawing permafrost.

“The microorganism generates methane by using carbon dioxide and hydrogen from the bacteria it lives alongside,” team member Ben Woodcroft, explained.

Global warming trends indicate that vast areas of permafrost will continue to thaw. This will allow the microbes to continue growing in subsurface soil, driving methane gas release and further fuelling global warming.

“This microorganism is responsible for producing a substantial fraction of methane at this site,” Associate Professor Tyson added.

“Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with about 25 times the warming capacity of carbon dioxide.”

The researchers showed the organism and its close relatives also live in many other methane-producing habitats worldwide.

The research was published in Nature Communications.