IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms4212.html

Discovery of a novel methanogen prevalent in thawing permafrost

Author

Listed:
  • Rhiannon Mondav

    (Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland
    Present address: Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, 75 236 Uppsala, Sweden (R.M.))

  • Ben J. Woodcroft

    (Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland)

  • Eun-Hae Kim

    (Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona)

  • Carmody K. McCalley

    (University of Arizona
    Present address: Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA)

  • Suzanne B. Hodgkins

    (Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University)

  • Patrick M. Crill

    (Stockholm University)

  • Jeffrey Chanton

    (Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University)

  • Gregory B. Hurst

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

  • Nathan C. VerBerkmoes

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    Present address: New England BioLabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts 01938, USA)

  • Scott R. Saleska

    (University of Arizona)

  • Philip Hugenholtz

    (Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland)

  • Virginia I. Rich

    (Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona)

  • Gene W. Tyson

    (Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland)

Abstract

Thawing permafrost promotes microbial degradation of cryo-sequestered and new carbon leading to the biogenic production of methane, creating a positive feedback to climate change. Here we determine microbial community composition along a permafrost thaw gradient in northern Sweden. Partially thawed sites were frequently dominated by a single archaeal phylotype, Candidatus ‘Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis’ gen. nov. sp. nov., belonging to the uncultivated lineage ‘Rice Cluster II’ (Candidatus ‘Methanoflorentaceae’ fam. nov.). Metagenomic sequencing led to the recovery of its near-complete genome, revealing the genes necessary for hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. These genes are highly expressed and methane carbon isotope data are consistent with hydrogenotrophic production of methane in the partially thawed site. In addition to permafrost wetlands, ‘Methanoflorentaceae’ are widespread in high methane-flux habitats suggesting that this lineage is both prevalent and a major contributor to global methane production. In thawing permafrost, Candidatus ‘M. stordalenmirensis’ appears to be a key mediator of methane-based positive feedback to climate warming.

Suggested Citation

  • Rhiannon Mondav & Ben J. Woodcroft & Eun-Hae Kim & Carmody K. McCalley & Suzanne B. Hodgkins & Patrick M. Crill & Jeffrey Chanton & Gregory B. Hurst & Nathan C. VerBerkmoes & Scott R. Saleska & Philip, 2014. "Discovery of a novel methanogen prevalent in thawing permafrost," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4212
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4212
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4212
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms4212?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sudakow, Ivan & Savenkova, Elena & Kondrashov, Dmitri & Vakulenko, Sergey A. & Sashina, Elena, 2023. "Diverse soil microbial communities may mitigate climate system bifurcation," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    2. Katherine Duchesneau & Borja Aldeguer-Riquelme & Caitlin Petro & Ghiwa Makke & Madison Green & Malak Tfaily & Rachel Wilson & Spencer W. Roth & Eric R. Johnston & Laurel A. Kluber & Christopher W. Sch, 2025. "Northern peatland microbial communities exhibit resistance to warming and acquire electron acceptors from soil organic matter," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Sylvain Monteux & Ellen Dorrepaal & Sébastien Fontaine & Konstantin Gavazov & Sara Hallin & Jaanis Juhanson & Frida Keuper & Alexander T. Tveit & Josefine Walz & Rica Wegner & Birgit Wild & Eveline J., 2026. "Active layer microbial inocula restore missing functions across thawed permafrost soils," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Mark P. Waldrop & Jessica Gilman Ernakovich & Tatiana A. Vishnivetskaya & Sean R. Schaefer & Rachel Mackelprang & Jiri Barta & Joy M. O′Brien & Matthias Winkel & Robyn A. Barbato & Liam Heffernan & Ma, 2025. "Microbial Ecology of Permafrost Soils: Populations, Processes, and Perspectives," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(2), pages 245-258, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.