Bacteria: God and helpful biochemical reactions (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, October 25, 2016, 18:32 (2740 days ago) @ David Turell

The development of the Earth's life-giving environment lies in the hands of bacterial reactions. Here a bug that handles methane and iron is described:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161024161655.htm

"A microbe that ‘eats’ both methane and iron: microbiologists have long suspected its existence, but were not able to find it - until now. Researchers have discovered a microorganism that couples the reduction of iron to methane oxidation, and could thus be relevant in controlling greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

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" The team of microbiologists and biogeochemists now discovered an archaeon -- the other branch of ancient prokaryotes besides bacteria -- of the order Methanosarcinales that uses iron to convert methane into carbon dioxide. During that process, reduced iron become available to other bacteria. Consequently, the microorganism initiates an energy cascade influencing the iron and methane cycle and thus methane emissions,

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"Besides, these archaea have another trick up their sleeve. They can turn nitrate into ammonium: the favourite food of the famous anammox bacteria that turn ammonium into nitrogen gas without using oxygen....A bioreactor containing anaerobic methane and ammonium oxidizing microorganisms can be used to simultaneously convert ammonium, methane and oxidized nitrogen in wastewater into harmless nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide, which has much lower global warming potential."

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"'These findings fill one of the remaining gaps in our understanding of anaerobic methane oxidation. Now we want to further investigate which protein complexes are involved in the process."

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"The newly discovered process could also lead to new insights into the early history of our planet. Already billions of years ago, Methanosarcinales archaea might have abundantly thrived under the methane-rich atmosphere in the ferruginous (iron holding) Archaean oceans, 4 to 2.5 billion years ago. More information on the metabolism of this organism can therefore shed new light on the long-standing discussion of the role of iron metabolism on early earth."

Comment: Bacteria are built to do everything to make the Earth properly habitable for life. This is an example as to why bacteria are still around doing their job, God's helpful workers!