This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pancost, R. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pancost, R. D.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Pancost, R. D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2000, p. 1126-1132, Vol. 66, No. 3
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Biomarker Evidence for Widespread Anaerobic Methane Oxidation in Mediterranean Sediments by a Consortium of Methanogenic Archaea and Bacteriadagger

Richard D. Pancost,1,* Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté,1 Saskia de Lint,2 Marc J. E. C. van der Maarel,2 Jan C. Gottschal,2 and The Medinaut Shipboard Scientific PartyDagger

Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 1790AB Den Burg (Texel),1 and Department of Microbiology, Centre for Ecological Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, 9750 AA Haren,2 The Netherlands

Received 14 October 1999/Accepted 5 January 2000

Although abundant geochemical data indicate that anaerobic methane oxidation occurs in marine sediments, the linkage to specific microorganisms remains unclear. In order to examine processes of methane consumption and oxidation, sediment samples from mud volcanoes at two distinct sites on the Mediterranean Ridge were collected via the submersible Nautile. Geochemical data strongly indicate that methane is oxidized under anaerobic conditions, and compound-specific carbon isotope analyses indicate that this reaction is facilitated by a consortium of archaea and bacteria. Specifically, these methane-rich sediments contain high abundances of methanogen-specific biomarkers that are significantly depleted in 13C (delta 13C values are as low as -95per thousand ). Biomarkers inferred to derive from sulfate-reducing bacteria and other heterotrophic bacteria are similarly depleted. Consistent with previous work, such depletion can be explained by consumption of 13C-depleted methane by methanogens operating in reverse and as part a consortium of organisms in which sulfate serves as the terminal electron acceptor. Moreover, our results indicate that this process is widespread in Mediterranean mud volcanoes and in some localized settings is the predominant microbiological process.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, 1790AB Den Burg (Texel), The Netherlands. Phone: (31) 222 369550. Fax: (31) 222 319674. E-mail: damste{at}nioz.nl.

dagger This is NIOZ publication number 3439.

Dagger G. Aloisi de Larderel, J. L. Charlou, G. de Lange, J. P. Donval, A. Fiala-Medioni, J.-P. Foucher, R. Haese, P. Henry, J. Mascle, G. Nobbe, H. Pelle, C. Pierre, M. Sibuet, and J. M. Woodside.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2000, p. 1126-1132, Vol. 66, No. 3
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Peckmann, J., Birgel, D., Kiel, S. (2009). Molecular fossils reveal fluid composition and flow intensity at a Cretaceous seep. Geology 37: 847-850 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Birgel, D., Himmler, T., Freiwald, A., Peckmann, J. (2008). A new constraint on the antiquity of anaerobic oxidation of methane: Late Pennsylvanian seep limestones from southern Namibia. Geology 36: 543-546 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Treude, T., Orphan, V., Knittel, K., Gieseke, A., House, C. H., Boetius, A. (2007). Consumption of Methane and CO2 by Methanotrophic Microbial Mats from Gas Seeps of the Anoxic Black Sea. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 2271-2283 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Inagaki, F., Kuypers, M. M. M., Tsunogai, U., Ishibashi, J.-i., Nakamura, K.-i., Treude, T., Ohkubo, S., Nakaseama, M., Gena, K., Chiba, H., Hirayama, H., Nunoura, T., Takai, K., Jorgensen, B. B., Horikoshi, K., Boetius, A. (2006). From the Cover: Microbial community in a sediment-hosted CO2 lake of the southern Okinawa Trough hydrothermal system. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 14164-14169 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Barker, C. E., Dallegge, T. (2006). Secondary gas emissions during coal desorption, Marathon Grassim Oskolkoff-1 Well, Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska: implications for resource assessment. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology 54: 273-291 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Summons, R. E, Bradley, A. S, Jahnke, L. L, Waldbauer, J. R (2006). Steroids, triterpenoids and molecular oxygen. Phil Trans R Soc B 361: 951-968 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dale, A. W., Regnier, P., Van Cappellen, P. (2006). Bioenergetic Controls on Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane (AOM) in Coastal Marine Sediments: A Theoretical Analysis. ajs 306: 246-294 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Blumenberg, M., Seifert, R., Nauhaus, K., Pape, T., Michaelis, W. (2005). In Vitro Study of Lipid Biosynthesis in an Anaerobically Methane-Oxidizing Microbial Mat. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 4345-4351 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Knittel, K., Losekann, T., Boetius, A., Kort, R., Amann, R. (2005). Diversity and Distribution of Methanotrophic Archaea at Cold Seeps. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 467-479 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brocks, J. J., Pearson, A. (2005). Building the Biomarker Tree of Life. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 59: 233-258 [Full Text]  
  • Hallam, S. J., Girguis, P. R., Preston, C. M., Richardson, P. M., DeLong, E. F. (2003). Identification of Methyl Coenzyme M Reductase A (mcrA) Genes Associated with Methane-Oxidizing Archaea. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 5483-5491 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schouten, S., Wakeham, S. G., Hopmans, E. C., Sinninghe Damste, J. S. (2003). Biogeochemical Evidence that Thermophilic Archaea Mediate the Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 1680-1686 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Orphan, V. J., House, C. H., Hinrichs, K.-U., McKeegan, K. D., DeLong, E. F. (2002). From the Cover: Multiple archaeal groups mediate methane oxidation in anoxic cold seep sediments. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 7663-7668 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Teske, A., Hinrichs, K.-U., Edgcomb, V., de Vera Gomez, A., Kysela, D., Sylva, S. P., Sogin, M. L., Jannasch, H. W. (2002). Microbial Diversity of Hydrothermal Sediments in the Guaymas Basin: Evidence for Anaerobic Methanotrophic Communities. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 1994-2007 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhang, C. L., Li, Y., Wall, J. D., Larsen, L., Sassen, R., Huang, Y., Wang, Y., Peacock, A., White, D. C., Horita, J., Cole, D. R. (2002). Lipid and carbon isotopic evidence of methane-oxidizing and sulfate-reducing bacteria in association with gas hydrates from the Gulf of Mexico. Geology 30: 239-242 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Thomsen, T. R., Finster, K., Ramsing, N. B. (2001). Biogeochemical and Molecular Signatures of Anaerobic Methane Oxidation in a Marine Sediment. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 1646-1656 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Orphan, V. J., Hinrichs, K.-U., Ussler, W. III, Paull, C. K., Taylor, L. T., Sylva, S. P., Hayes, J. M., Delong, E. F. (2001). Comparative Analysis of Methane-Oxidizing Archaea and Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria in Anoxic Marine Sediments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 1922-1934 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Freeman, K. H., Freeman, K. H. (2001). Isotopic Biogeochemistry of Marine Organic Carbon. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 43: 579-605 [Full Text]  
  • Schouten, S., Hopmans, E. C., Pancost, R. D., Damste, J. S. S. (2000). From the Cover: Widespread occurrence of structurally diverse tetraether membrane lipids: Evidence for the ubiquitous presence of low-temperature relatives of hyperthermophiles. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 14421-14426 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»