Posted on 07/04/2021 5:01:41 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Montana State University's College of Agriculture and College of Letters and Science recently published research casting new light on a previously unknown element of the carbon cycle, thanks to data collected from Yellowstone National Park over more than a decade.
Tim McDermott, a professor in MSU's Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, began studying the microbiology of Yellowstone Lake in 2007. While collecting data to analyze the lake's chemistry and the interaction of various microbes in the lake with the park's underlying thermal features, McDermott noticed something seemed off.
"We came across some lake water gas chemistries that didn't make a lick of sense," said McDermott. "We were seeing a lot of methane in places we didn't expect and wondering, 'what's going on here?'"
That discrepancy illustrated what has been termed the "methane paradox." For years, scientists have understood that when microorganisms produce methane, they do it anaerobically, meaning they don't use oxygen. But in the surface waters of the lake where the team was seeing methane, none of those organisms were found.
Methane is a naturally occurring gas made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. It is the byproduct of a number of biological processes, though human activities like mining coal and refining natural gas also produce methane. It is a greenhouse gas known to be much more potent when trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, which is why many researchers are interested in identifying where in the biosphere it is created and where it goes.
So began a years-long collaborative effort with John Dore, also of the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences; Brian Bothner and Roland Hatzenpichler of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; and Qian Wang, an assistant research professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology. The study is the subject of a new paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science titled "Aerobic Bacterial Methane Synthesis."
Wang led the work at Yellowstone Lake for five summers of data collection and analysis.
"At the beginning, we didn't realize what was going on," she said. "But when we did the DNA extraction from the lake water, it turns out we couldn't find the anaerobic organisms that are usually responsible for the presence of methane. Instead, we discovered aerobic bacteria were involved, isolating a bacterium called Acidovorax, which then allowed us to begin understanding this process."
The Bothner lab group used analytical equipment to identify the presence of methylamine and glycine betaine in the lake water, biochemicals the team hypothesized to be key in the process of methane production. To test the theory, Wang narrowed down which gene the Acidovorax bacteria needed to convert methylamine or glycine betaine into methane.
"We can break this down to a basic discovery about methylamine conversion to methane under aerobic conditions," said McDermott. "Scientifically, this wasn't supposed to be happening based on all the knowledge we had. So, we went through a process of elimination to identify how and why this was happening and is another example of fundamental discoveries made from Yellowstone research."
Through a series of microbial experiments and extensive analysis of the wider biological community present in the lake samples, Wang identified a known gene that encodes aspartate aminotransferase, or AAT, that seemed to be catalyzing the methane synthesis.
The next step was to see if the AAT enzyme itself was capable of catalyzing the conversion of methylamine into methane. To do that, Wang isolated the gene, transferred it to E. coli, which is commonly used by microbiologists and biochemists because of its capability to express foreign genes; McDermott likened it to inserting in a cassette tape into a player.
A common E. coli cell, explained Wang, cannot convert methylamine into methane. But when provided with the AAT gene, it could.
"It's rare these days to come upon something that can't be explained by our current understanding of biochemistry," said Bothner. "That has made this an interesting and challenging project to work on."
The magnitude of the discovery cannot be overstated, said Bothner. The fact that aerobic methane synthesis can happen at all is a seismic shift in the field of biogeochemistry. Since methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, scientists are interested in identifying where in the biosphere it is created and where it goes. This project, he said, creates a springboard for extensive further research in Yellowstone National Park and beyond.
"This is a fundamentally different process from anaerobic methane synthesis," said McDermott. "In an ecological sense, it's logical to think that this is occurring throughout the biosphere, not just in Yellowstone Lake. It's conceivable to think that it's even occurring across the world's oceans and throughout the world."
Pro GW stuff gets funded.
GW is all about money and career advancement and the supposed science is utter bunk.
I am sure with this new variable the models will say we passed too hot to survive more than 2 decades ago, we are all dead, Florida is underwater, and Antarctica is balmy.
It’s not cow farts then?
If nature is producing massive amounts of methane then the only sensible policy is to convert as much of it as we can gather into the less dangerous CO2 by burning it to meet all of our energy needs.
X is cow farts. This is Y. They did not even have Y in the equation.
Doesnt really matter though. We are all dead when adding Y to their model.
Good new though. We may not have to eat bacterial slime burgers instead of beef burgers to save the environment.
We are going to wait for the studies to see which option is best for a population the models say are all dead.
Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 so 100% agreed. Methane is almost as bad as the worst of all the greenhouse gasses, water vapor.
To make a real dent we need to cut back on water vapor production.
Maybe we could drain the oceans?
Hear! Hear!
I was afraid of that.
< / SARC>
One wonders if this gives credence to the theory of abiotic formation of heavy petroleum?
So, all the oceans are actively creating methane at levels previoulsy unknown. That should make them all jump off a bridge somewhere LOL!
One wonders if this gives credence to the theory of abiotic formation of heavy petroleum?
Unfortunately since it is not a pro GW hypothesis that study will not get funded. Sorry for your luck.
So! Science isn't absolute?!!!
Its worse than that. The oceans contribute the worst off all greenhouse gas contributors at a rate of over 90%. Water Vapor.
We must drain the oceans!!! At the very least we should cover them to prevent all that water vapor cased by evaporation. Someone call Bill Gates and see if he can come up with a plan to cover the oceans. I mean he did come up with the plan to put micro-particulates into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight.
IDIOTS!
The science for 30+ years has been corrupted by politics. Push CAGW? Get a grant. Question it? Lose funding, chance at tenure, etc.
CAGW = Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming
Ping
So! Science isn’t absolute?!!!
Au contraire mon frere. Science is 100% absolute.
Absolutely about getting your studies funded and career advancement. 100%
And crude oil....continuously...from the beginning of time.
I have a little song.
Yummy. Just think, based on this you can have slime burgers on your 4th cookout in 2023.
I assume the comment was about slime burgers.
“So, all the oceans are actively creating methane at levels previoulsy unknown. That should make them all jump off a bridge somewhere LOL!”
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We’re ALL GONNA DIE unless we drain the oceans in the next 11 years.
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