Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 9 August 2002:
Vol. 297. no. 5583, pp. 1013 - 1015
DOI: 10.1126/science.1072502
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Microbial Reefs in the Black Sea Fueled by Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane

Walter Michaelis,1* Richard Seifert,1 Katja Nauhaus,2 Tina Treude,2 Volker Thiel,1 Martin Blumenberg,1 Katrin Knittel,2 Armin Gieseke,2 Katharina Peterknecht,1 Thomas Pape,1 Antje Boetius,3 Rudolf Amann,2 Bo Barker Jørgensen,2 Friedrich Widdel,2 Jörn Peckmann,4 Nikolai V. Pimenov,5 Maksim B. Gulin6

Massive microbial mats covering up to 4-meter-high carbonate buildups prosper at methane seeps in anoxic waters of the northwestern Black Sea shelf. Strong 13C depletions indicate an incorporation of methane carbon into carbonates, bulk biomass, and specific lipids. The mats mainly consist of densely aggregated archaea (phylogenetic ANME-1 cluster) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (Desulfosarcina/Desulfococcus group). If incubated in vitro, these mats perform anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulfate reduction. Obviously, anaerobic microbial consortia can generate both carbonate precipitation and substantial biomass accumulation, which has implications for our understanding of carbon cycling during earlier periods of Earth's history.

1 Institute of Biogeochemistry and Marine Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Bundesstrasse 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
2 Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Celsiusstrasse 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
3 Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 27515 Bremerhaven, and International University Bremen, 28725 Bremen, Germany.
4 Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
5 Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. 60-letiya Oktyabrya 7, k. 2, Moscow, 117811, Russia.
6 Institute of Biology of Southern Seas, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, pr. Nakhimova 2, Sevastopol, Ukraine.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: michaelis{at}geowiss.uni-hamburg.de

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Nucleation, growth and oxidation of framboidal pyrite associated with hydrocarbon-derived submarine chimneys: lessons learned from the Gulf of Cadiz.
R. Merinero, R. Lunar, L. Somoza, V. Diaz-del-Rio, and J. Martinez-Frias (2009)
European Journal of Mineralogy 21, 947-961
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
TUBE WORM FOSSILS OR RELIC METHANE EXPULSING CONDUITS?.
F. F. KRAUSE, J. CLARK, S. G. SAYEGH, and R. J. PEREZ (2009)
Palaios 24, 41-50
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Planktonic and Sediment-Associated Aerobic Methanotrophs in Two Seep Systems along the North American Margin.
P. L. Tavormina, W. Ussler III, and V. J. Orphan (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 3985-3995
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biogeochemistry and Community Composition of Iron- and Sulfur-Precipitating Microbial Mats at the Chefren Mud Volcano (Nile Deep Sea Fan, Eastern Mediterranean).
E. O. Omoregie, V. Mastalerz, G. de Lange, K. L. Straub, A. Kappler, H. Roy, A. Stadnitskaia, J.-P. Foucher, and A. Boetius (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 3198-3215
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late seafloor carbonate precipitation in serpentinites from the Rainbow and Saldanha sites (Mid-Atlantic Ridge).
I. Ribeiro Da Costa, F. J.A.S. Barriga, and R. N. Taylor (2008)
European Journal of Mineralogy 20, 173-181
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An Anaerobic Methane-Oxidizing Community of ANME-1b Archaea in Hypersaline Gulf of Mexico Sediments.
K. G. Lloyd, L. Lapham, and A. Teske (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 7218-7230
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Methane- and Sulfur-Metabolizing Microbial Communities Dominate the Lost City Hydrothermal Field Ecosystem.
W. J. Brazelton, M. O. Schrenk, D. S. Kelley, and J. A. Baross (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 6257-6270
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The origin and evolution of Archaea: a state of the art.
S. Gribaldo and C. Brochier-Armanet (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 1007-1022
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Bioenergetic Controls on Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane (AOM) in Coastal Marine Sediments: A Theoretical Analysis.
A. W. Dale, P. Regnier, and P. Van Cappellen (2006)
Am J Sci 306, 246-294
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence of Intense Archaeal and Bacterial Methanotrophic Activity in the Black Sea Water Column.
E. Durisch-Kaiser, L. Klauser, B. Wehrli, and C. Schubert (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 8099-8106
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cooccurrence of Aerobic and Anaerobic Methane Oxidation in the Water Column of Lake Plu{beta}see.
G. Eller, L. Kanel, and M. Kruger (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 8925-8928
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Subsurface Microbial Methanotrophic Mats in the Black Sea.
T. Treude, K. Knittel, M. Blumenberg, R. Seifert, and A. Boetius (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 6375-6378
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Integrated petrographic and geochemical record of hydrocarbon seepage on the Voring Plateau.
A. Mazzini, G. Aloisi, G. G. Akhmanov, J. Parnell, B. T. Cronin, and P. Murphy (2005)
Journal of the Geological Society 162, 815-827
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
In Vitro Study of Lipid Biosynthesis in an Anaerobically Methane-Oxidizing Microbial Mat.
M. Blumenberg, R. Seifert, K. Nauhaus, T. Pape, and W. Michaelis (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 4345-4351
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stable Isotope Fractionation of Tetrachloroethene during Reductive Dechlorination by Sulfurospirillum multivorans and Desulfitobacterium sp. Strain PCE-S and Abiotic Reactions with Cyanocobalamin.
I. Nijenhuis, J. Andert, K. Beck, M. Kastner, G. Diekert, and H.-H. Richnow (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 3413-3419
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Growth and Population Dynamics of Anaerobic Methane-Oxidizing Archaea and Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria in a Continuous-Flow Bioreactor.
P. R. Girguis, A. E. Cozen, and E. F. DeLong (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 3725-3733
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
How an Enzyme Binds the C1 Carrier Tetrahydromethanopterin: STRUCTURE OF THE TETRAHYDROMETHANOPTERIN-DEPENDENT FORMALDEHYDE-ACTIVATING ENZYME (Fae) FROM METHYLOBACTERIUM EXTORQUENS AM1.
P. Acharya, M. Goenrich, C. H. Hagemeier, U. Demmer, J. A. Vorholt, R. K. Thauer, and U. Ermler (2005)
J. Biol. Chem. 280, 13712-13719
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Diversity and Distribution of Methanotrophic Archaea at Cold Seeps.
K. Knittel, T. Losekann, A. Boetius, R. Kort, and R. Amann (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 467-479
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Characterization of C1-Metabolizing Prokaryotic Communities in Methane Seep Habitats at the Kuroshima Knoll, Southern Ryukyu Arc, by Analyzing pmoA, mmoX, mxaF, mcrA, and 16S rRNA Genes.
F. Inagaki, U. Tsunogai, M. Suzuki, A. Kosaka, H. Machiyama, K. Takai, T. Nunoura, K. H. Nealson, and K. Horikoshi (2004)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 70, 7445-7455
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Reverse Methanogenesis: Testing the Hypothesis with Environmental Genomics.
S. J. Hallam, N. Putnam, C. M. Preston, J. C. Detter, D. Rokhsar, P. M. Richardson, and E. F. DeLong (2004)
Science 305, 1457-1462
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Membrane lipid patterns typify distinct anaerobic methanotrophic consortia.
M. Blumenberg, R. Seifert, J. Reitner, T. Pape, and W. Michaelis (2004)
PNAS 101, 11111-11116
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Enigmatic Planctomycetes May Hold a Key to the Origins of Methanogenesis and Methylotrophy.
L. Chistoserdova, C. Jenkins, M. G. Kalyuzhnaya, C. J. Marx, A. Lapidus, J. A. Vorholt, J. T. Staley, and M. E. Lidstrom (2004)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 21, 1234-1241
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Survey of Archaeal Diversity Reveals an Abundance of Halophilic Archaea in a Low-Salt, Sulfide- and Sulfur-Rich Spring.
M. S. Elshahed, F. Z. Najar, B. A. Roe, A. Oren, T. A. Dewers, and L. R. Krumholz (2004)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 70, 2230-2239
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)