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NASA NTRS1982

Sources of atmospheric methane from coastal marine wetlands

Biological methanogenesis in wetlands is believed to be one of the major sources of global tropospheric methane. The present paper reports measurements of methane distribution in the soils, sediments, water and vegetation of coastal marine wetlands. Measurements, carried out in the salt marshes Bay Tree Creek in Virginia and Panacea in northwest Florida, reveal methane concentrations in soils and sediments to vary with depth below the surface and with soil temperature. The fluxes of methane from marsh soils to the atmosphere at the soil-air interface are estimated to range from -0.00067 g CH4/sq m per day (methane sink) to 0.024 g CH4/sq m per day, with an average value of 0.0066 g CH4/sq m per day. Data also demonstrate the important role of tidal waters percolating through marsh soils in removing methane from the soils and releasing it to the atmosphere. The information obtained, together with previous studies, provides a framework for the design of a program based on in situ and remote sensing measurements to study the global methane cycle.

Harriss, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Distribution, abundance and carbon isotopic composition of gaseous hydrocarbons in Big Soda Lake, Nevada - An alkaline, meromictic lake

The study of the distribution and isotopic composition of low molecular weight hydrocarbon gases at the Big Soda Lake, Nevada, has shown that while neither ethylene nor propylene were found in the lake, ethane, propane, isobutane and n-butane concentrations all increased with water column depth. It is concluded that methane has a biogenic origin in both the sediments and the anoxic water column, and that C2-C4 alkanes have biogenic origins in the monimolimnion water and shallow sediments. The changes observed in delta C-13/CH4/ and CH4/(C2H6 + C3H8) with depth in the water column and sedimeents are probably due to bacterial processes, which may include anaerobic methane oxidation and different rates of methanogenesis, and C2-to-C4 alkane production by microorganisms.

Oremland, R. S.↗

NASA NTRS1987

A possible biochemical missing link among archaebacteria

The characteristics of the newly discovered strain of archaebacteria, VC-16, the only archaebacterium known to reduce sulfate, suggest that VC-16 might represent a transitional form between an anaerobic thermophilic sulfur-based type of metabolism and methanogenesis. It is shown here, using a matrix of evolutionary distances derived from an alignment of various archaebacterial 16S rRNAs and the phylogenetic tree derived from these evolutionary distances, that the lineage represented by strain VC-16 arises from the archaebacterial tree precisely where such an interpretation would predict that it would, between the Methanococcus lineage and that of Thermococcus.

Achenbach-Richter, Laurie↗

NASA NTRS1991

Relationships between CH4 emission, biomass, and CO2 exchange in a subtropical grassland

Methane flux was linearly correlated with plant biomass (r = 0.97, n = 6 and r = 0.95, n = 8) at two locations in a Florida Everglades Cladium marsh. One location, which had burned 4 months previously, exhibited a greater increase in methane flux as a function of biomass relative to sites at an unburned location. However, methane flux data from both sites fit a single regression (r = 0.94, n = 14) when plotted against net CO2 exchange suggesting that either methanogenesis in Everglades marl sediments is fueled by root exudation below ground, or that factors which enhance photosynthetic production and plant growth are also correlated with methane production and flux in this oligotrophic environment. The data presented are the first to show a direct relationship between spatial variability in plant biomass, net ecosystem production, and methane emission in a natural wetland.

Whiting, Gary J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Biospheric-atmospheric coupling on the early Earth

Theoretical calculations performed with a one-dimensional photochemical model have been performed to assess the biospheric-atmospheric transfer of gases. Ozone reached levels to shield the Earth from biologically lethal solar ultraviolet radiation (220-300 nm) when atmospheric oxygen reached about 1/10 of its present atmospheric level. In the present atmosphere, about 90 percent of atmospheric nitrous oxide is destroyed via solar photolysis in the stratosphere with about 10 percent destroyed via reaction with excited oxygen atoms. The reaction between nitrous oxide and excited oxygen atoms leads to the production of nitric oxide in the stratosphere, which is responsible for about 70 percent of the global destruction of oxygen in the stratosphere. In the oxygen/ozone deficient atmosphere, solar photolysis destroyed about 100 percent of the atmospheric nitrous oxide, relegating the production of nitric oxide via reaction with excited oxygen to zero. Our laboratory and field measurements indicate that atmospheric oxygen promotes the biogenic production of N2O and NO via denitrification and the biogenic production of methane by methanogenesis.

Levine, J. S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

CH4 production via CO2 reduction in a temperate bog - A source of (C-13)-depleted CH4

The paper reports measurements, taken over two annual cycles, of the flux and delta(C-13) of CH4 released from an acidic peat bog located in the foothills of the Cascade Range in Washington state, U.S. Measurements of the rate of aceticlastic methanogenesis and CO2 reduction in peat soil, using (C-14)-labeled acetate and sodium bicarbonate, show that acetate was not an important CH4 precursor and that CO2 reduction could account for all of the CH4 production. The in situ kinetic isotope effect for CO2 reduction, calculated using the delta-(C-13) of soil water CO2 and CH4 flux, was 0.932 +/- 0.007.

Lansdown, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Methane production and consumption in grassland and boreal ecosystems

The objectives of the this project were to develop a mechanistic understanding of methane production and oxidation suitable for incorporation into spatially explicit models for spatial extrapolation. Field studies were undertaken in Minnesota, Canada, and Colorado to explore the process controls over the two microbial mediated methane transformations in a range of environments. Field measurements were done in conjunction with ongoing studies in Canada (the Canadian Northern Wetlands Projects: NOWES) and in Colorado (The Shortgrass Steppe Long Term Ecological Research Project: LTER). One of the central hypotheses of the proposal was that methane production should be substrate limited, as well as being controlled by physical variables influencing microbial activity (temperature, oxidation status, and pH). Laboratory studies of peats from Canada and Minnesota (Northern and Southern Boreal) were conducted with amendments of a methanogenic substrate at multiple temperatures and at multiple pHs (the latter by titrating samples). The studies showed control by substrate, pH, and temperature in order in anaerobic samples. Field and laboratory manipulations of natural plant litter, rather than an acetogenic substrate, showed similarly large effects. The studies concluded that substrate is an important control over methanogenesis, that substrate availability in the field is closely coupled to the chemistry of the dominant vegetation influencing its decomposition rate, that most methane is produced from recent plant litter, and that landscape changes in pH are an important control, highly correlated with vegetation.

Schimel, David S.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The Search for Carbonates on Mars

Liquid water is presently unstable at the Martian surface, where the mean atmospheric pressure is 6 mbar (due to CO2) and the winter diurnal temperature ranges from 150 K at the pole to 220 K at the equator. Liquid water is widely regarded as a basic requirement for living systems, suggesting that life as we know it is not possible in present surface environments on Mars. However, life may survive within "oases" where liquid water is present. Potential oases on Mars include subsurface hydrothermal systems or deeply buried aquifers where chemoautolithotrophic microorganisms may exist. Potential metabolic strategies for primary production in such environments on Mars (and for the microbial mediation of geologic processes!) encompass the full range presently known for subsurface environments on the Earth (e.g. sulphate reduction, methanogenesis, acetogenesis, etc).

Farmer, Jack D.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Thermodynamics of Aqueous Organic Sulfur Compounds: A Key to the Organic Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Systems?

Hydrothermal environments are locations of varied geochemistry due to the disequilibrium between vent fluids and seawater. The disequilibrium geochemistry has been hypothesized to include reactions to synthesize organic compounds. Observations of the organic geochemistry of hydrothermal vent sites has received little attention. Experimental simulations of these environments, however, indicate that organic compounds may have difficulty forming in a purely aqueous environment. On the other hand, thiols. thioesters and disulfides have been implicated as reaction intermediates between CO or CO2 in experiments of carbon reduction in hydrothermal environments as well as in a variety of biological processes and other abiotic reactions (Wachtershauser, 1990, OLEB 20, 173; Heinen and Lauwers, 1996, OLEB 26, 13 1, Huber and Wachtershauser, 1997, Science 276, 245; Russell et al., 1998, in Thermophiles: The keys to molecular evolution and the origin of life?). The reduction of CO2 to thiols, for example, is observed using the FeS-H2S/FeS2 couple to provide the reducing power (see Schoonen et al., 1999, OLEB 29, 5). In addition, the enzyme involved in final stage of methanogenesis, coenzyme-M, is itself a thiol. Thus, organic sulfur compounds may hold the key to the organic chemistry leading to the origin of life at high temperatures. Understanding the biochemical processes of microorganisms that can live to temperatures at least as high as 113 C (Blochl et al., 1996, Extremophiles 1, 14) requires knowledge of the properties of the chemical reactions involved. In order to assess the role of aqueous organic sulfur compounds in hydrothermal organic geochemistry, we have been attempting to determine their thermodynamic properties. We have culled the literature to obtain the properties of organic sulfur compounds. We are able to calculate a number of essential properties, such as free energies of formation, from solubility data available in the literature together with standard properties of organic sulfur gases. However, a number of the properties for aqueous organic sulfur compounds have not been experimentally determined. Furthermore, most of thermodynamic data that are available are for 25 C and 1 bar. In order to determine reaction properties to temperatures and pressures appropriate to the hydrothermal conditions in which thermophilic organisms actually live, we use equations of state developed by Helgeson and co-workers (Helgeson et al., 1981, AJS 281, 1249). A key piece of information needed to go up in temperature is the partial molal heat capacity, which is one of the properties for which experimental data are unavailable for nearly all organic sulfur compounds. We have used correlation methods to determine the partial molal heat capacities and volumes of many organic solutes. These estimates allow us to asses the role of organic sulfur compounds during the reduction of carbon in hydrothermal settings. We will present these data, along with examples of the thermodynamic properties of reactions involving aqueous organic sulfur compounds.

Schulte, Mitchell↗

NASA NTRS2000

Apparent Minimum Free Energy Requirements for Methanogenic Archaea and Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria in an Anoxic Marine Sediment

Among the most fundamental constraints governing the distribution of microorganisms in the environment is the availability of chemical energy at biologically useful levels. To assess the minimum free energy yield that can support microbial metabolism in situ, we examined the thermodynamics of H2-consuming processes in anoxic sediments from Cape Lookout Bight, NC, USA. Depth distributions of H2 partial pressure, along with a suite of relevant concentration data, were determined in sediment cores collected in November (at 14.5 C) and August (at 27 C) and used to calculate free energy yields for methanogenesis and sulfate reduction. At both times of year, and for both processes, free energy yields gradually decreased (became less negative) with depth before reaching an apparent asymptote. Sulfate reducing bacteria exhibited an asymptote of -19.1 +/- 1.7 kj(mol SO4(2-)(sup -1) while methanogenic archaea were apparently supported by energy yields as small as -10.6 +/- 0.7 kj(mol CH4)(sup -1).

Hoehler, Tori M.↗

NASA NTRS1997

An Ecosystem Simulation Model for Methane Production and Emission from Wetlands

Previous experimental studies suggest that methane emission from wetland is influenced by multiple interactive pathways of gas production and transport through soil and sediment layers to the atmosphere. The objective of this study is to evaluate a new simulation model of methane production and emission in wetland soils that was developed initially to help identify key processes that regulate methanogenesis and net flux of CH4 to the air, but which is designed ultimately for regional simulation using remotely sensed inputs for land cover characteristics. The foundation for these computer simulations is based on a well-documented model (CASA) of ecosystem production and carbon cycling in the terrestrial blaspheme. Modifications to represent flooded wetland soils and anaerobic decomposition include three new sub-models for: (1) layered soil temperature and water table depth (WTD) as a function of daily climate drivers, (2) CH4 production within the anoxic soil layer as a function of WTD and CO2 production under poorly drained conditions, and (3) CH4 gaseous transport pathways (molecular diffusion, ebullition, and plant vascular transport) as a function of WTD and ecosystem type. The model was applied and tested using climate and ecological data to characterize tundra wetland sites near Fairbanks, Alaska studied previously by Whalen and Reeburgh. Comparison of model predictions to measurements of soil temperature and thaw depth, water-table depth, and CH4 emissions over a two year period suggest that inter-site differences in soil physical conditions and methane fluxes could be reproduced accurately for selected periods. Day-to-day comparison of predicted emissions to measured CH4 flux rates reveals good agreement during the early part of the thaw season, but the model tends to underestimate production of CH4 during the months of July and August in both test years. Important seasonal effects, including that of falling WTD during these periods, are apparently overlooked in the model formulation. Nevertheless, reasonably close agreement was achieved between the model's mean daily and seasonal estimates of CH4 flux and observed emission rates for northern wetland ecosystems. Several features of the model are identified as crucial to more accurate prediction of wetland methane emission, including the capacity to incorporate influences of localized topographic and hydrologic features on site-specific soil temperature and WTD dynamics, and mechanistic simulation of methane emission transport pathways from within the soil profile.

Potter, C. S.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Methanopyrus kandleri: an archaeal methanogen unrelated to all other known methanogens

Analysis of its 16S rRNA sequence shows that the newly discovered hyperthermophilic methanogen, Methanopryus kandleri, is phylogenetically unrelated to any other known methanogen. The organism represents a separate lineage originating near the root of the archaeal tree. Although the 16S rRNA sequence of Mp. kandleri resembles euryarchaeal 16S rRNAs more than it does crenarchaeal, it shows more crenarchaeal signature features than any known euryarchaeal rRNA. Attempts to place it in relation to the root of the archaeal tree show that the Mp. kandleri lineage likely arises from the euryarchaeal branch of the tree. While the existence of so deeply branching a methanogenic lineage brings into question the thesis that methanogenesis evolved from an earlier metabolism similar to that seen in Thermococcus, it at the same time reinforces the notion that the aboriginal [correction of aborginal] archaeon was a thermophile.

NASA Discipline Number 52-30↗

NASA NTRS1985

Microbial biomass and productivity in seagrass beds

Different methods for measuring the rates of processes mediated by bacteria in sediments and the rates of bacterial cell production have been compared. In addition, net production of the seagrass Zostera capricorni and bacterial production have been compared and some interrelationships with the nitrogen cycle discussed. Seagrass productivity was estimated by measuring the plastochrone interval using a leaf stapling technique. The average productivity over four seasons was 1.28 +/- 0.28 g C m-2 day-1 (mean +/- standard deviation, n = 4). Bacterial productivity was measured five times throughout a year using the rate of tritiated thymidine incorporated into DNA. Average values were 33 +/- 12 mg C m-2 day-1 for sediment and 23 +/- 4 for water column (n = 5). Spatial variability between samples was greater than seasonal variation for both seagrass productivity and bacterial productivity. On one occasion, bacterial productivity was measured using the rate of 32P incorporated into phospholipid. The values were comparable to those obtained with tritiated thymidine. The rate of sulfate reduction was 10 mmol SO4(-2) m-2 day-1. The rate of methanogenesis was low, being 5.6 mg CH4 produced m-2 day-1. A comparison of C flux measured using rates of sulfate reduction and DNA synthesis indicated that anaerobic processes were predominant in these sediments. An analysis of microbial biomass and community structure, using techniques of phospholipid analysis, showed that bacteria were predominant members of the microbial biomass and that of these, strictly anaerobic bacteria were the main components. Ammonia concentration in interstitial water varied from 23 to 71 micromoles. Estimates of the amount of ammonia required by seagrass showed that the ammonia would turn over about once per day. Rapid recycling of nitrogen by bacteria and bacterial grazers is probably important.

NASA Program CELSS↗

NASA NTRS1999

Transduction-like gene transfer in the methanogen Methanococcus voltae

Strain PS of Methanococcus voltae (a methanogenic, anaerobic archaebacterium) was shown to generate spontaneously 4.4-kbp chromosomal DNA fragments that are fully protected from DNase and that, upon contact with a cell, transform it genetically. This activity, here called VTA (voltae transfer agent), affects all markers tested: three different auxotrophies (histidine, purine, and cobalamin) and resistance to BES (2-bromoethanesulfonate, an inhibitor of methanogenesis). VTA was most effectively prepared by culture filtration. This process disrupted a fraction of the M. voltae cells (which have only an S-layer covering their cytoplasmic membrane). VTA was rapidly inactivated upon storage. VTA particles were present in cultures at concentrations of approximately two per cell. Gene transfer activity varied from a minimum of 2 x 10(-5) (BES resistance) to a maximum of 10(-3) (histidine independence) per donor cell. Very little VTA was found free in culture supernatants. The phenomenon is functionally similar to generalized transduction, but there is no evidence, for the time being, of intrinsically viral (i.e., containing a complete viral genome) particles. Consideration of VTA DNA size makes the existence of such viral particles unlikely. If they exist, they must be relatively few in number;perhaps they differ from VTA particles in size and other properties and thus escaped detection. Digestion of VTA DNA with the AluI restriction enzyme suggests that it is a random sample of the bacterial DNA, except for a 0.9-kbp sequence which is amplified relative to the rest of the bacterial chromosome. A VTA-sized DNA fraction was demonstrated in a few other isolates of M. voltae.

Methanococcus/genetics/growth & development/metabo↗

NASA NTRS1999

Reclassification of Methanogenium tationis and Methanogenium liminatans as Methanofollis tationis gen. nov., comb. nov. and Methanofollis liminatans comb. nov. and description of a new strain of Methanofollis liminatans

Sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and phylogenetic analysis of Methanogenium tationis DSM 2702T (OCM 43T) (T = type strain) and Methanogenium liminatans GKZPZT (= DSM 4140T) as well as other members of the family Methanomicrobiaceae revealed that both species belong to a separate line of descent within this family. In addition, a new strain of Methanogenium liminatans, strain BM1 (= DSM 10196), was isolated from a butyrate-degrading, fluidized bed reactor and characterized. Cells of both species are mesophilic, highly irregular cocci that use H2/CO2 and formate for growth and methanogenesis. In addition, Methanogenium liminatans strains GKZPZT and BM1 used 2-propanol/CO2, 2-butanol/CO2 and cyclopentanol/CO2. Both species contained diether and tetraether lipids. The polar lipids comprised amino-phosphopentanetetrol derivatives, which appear to be characteristic lipids within the family Methanomicrobiaceae. The pattern of glycolipids, phosphoglycolipids and amino-phosphoglycolipids was consistent with the assignment of these two species to a taxon within the family Methanomicrobiaceae, but also permitted them to be distinguished from other higher taxa within this family. The G+C contents of the DNA of Methanogenium tationis and Methanogenium liminatans were 54 and 60 mol% (Tm and HPLC), respectively. On the basis of the data presented, the transfer of Methanogenium tationis and Methanogenium liminatans to the genus Methanofollis gen. nov. as Methanofollis tationis comb. nov. and Methanofollis liminatans comb. nov., respectively, is proposed, with Methanofollis tationis as the type species.

NASA Discipline Exobiology↗

NASA NTRS1994

Iron and manganese in anaerobic respiration: environmental significance, physiology, and regulation

Dissimilatory iron and/or manganese reduction is known to occur in several organisms, including anaerobic sulfur-reducing organisms such as Geobacter metallireducens or Desulfuromonas acetoxidans, and facultative aerobes such as Shewanella putrefaciens. These bacteria couple both carbon oxidation and growth to the reduction of these metals, and inhibitor and competition experiments suggest that Mn(IV) and Fe(III) are efficient electron acceptors similar to nitrate in redox abilities and capable of out-competing electron acceptors of lower potential, such as sulfate (sulfate reduction) or CO2 (methanogenesis). Field studies of iron and/or manganese reduction suggest that organisms with such metabolic abilities play important roles in coupling the oxidation of organic carbon to metal reduction under anaerobic conditions. Because both iron and manganese oxides are solids or colloids, they tend to settle downward in aquatic environments, providing a physical mechanism for the movement of oxidizing potential into anoxic zones. The resulting biogeochemical metal cycles have a strong impact on many other elements including carbon, sulfur, phosphorous, and trace metals.

Review, Academic↗

NASA NTRS2007

Methylhopane Biomarker and Carbon Isotopic Evidence for Late Archean Aerobic Ecosystems

Molecular fossils are particularly valuable in early Earth studies because they provide information about microbial sources and ecology. Here we report on the distribution of 2- methyl and 3-methylhopanes preserved in a 2.72-2.56 billion-year-old section of shallow and deepwater sediments of the Hamersley Province [Eigenbrode et aI., submitted]. These biomarkers are mostly from cyanobacteria and oxygen-respiring methanotrophs, respectively. The relative abundance of 2-methylhopanes increases with carbonate abundance in shallow-water facies indicating cyanobacteria were key microbes in shallow ecosystems and suggesting they supplied both molecular oxygen and fixed carbon. The relative abundance of 3-methylhopane strongly correlates with kerogen-carbon isotopic values, and is more abundant in the samples with 13C-enriched signatures. Thus, molecular data provides evidence for cycling of methane in shallow settings, even though the anoxic deeper environments bear stronger 13C-depletion, which together suggests a more complex methane cycle than previously envisioned. Detailed facies analysis of the Hamersley carbon-isotope record reveals temporal changes suggesting continued oxidation of shallow settings favoring the expansion of aerobic ecosystems and respiring organisms [Eigenbrode et aI., 2006, PNAS, 103: 15759]. Similar analysis of published carbon-isotopic records suggests similar, but diachronous, expansion of oxygenated habitats in shallow then deep waters as anaerobic microbial communities gave way to respiring communities fueled by oxygenic photosynthesis before the post 2.45-Ga atmospheric oxygenation event [Eigenbrode et aI., 2006]. The robust relationships observed provide geochemical support for methanogenesis, aerobic methanotrophy, and oxygenic photosynthesis in the late Archean, as well as major ecological shifts linked to biogeochemical reorganization.

Eigenbrode, Jennifer L.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Psychrophilic Biomass Producers in the Trophic Chain of the Microbial Community of Lake Untersee, Antarctica

The study of photosynthetic microorganisms from the Lake Untersee samples showed dispersed distribution of phototrophs within ~80 m water column. Lake Untersee represents a unique ecosystem that experienced complete isolation: sealed by the Anuchin Glacier for many millennia. Consequently, its biocenosis has evolved over a significant period of time without exchange or external interaction with species from other environments. The major producers of organic matter in Lake Untersee are represented by phototrophic and chemolithotrophic microorganisms. This is the traditional trophic scheme for lacustrine ecosystems on Earth. Among the phototrophs, diatoms were not found, which differentiates this lake from other known ecosystems. The dominant species among phototrophs was Chlamydomonas sp. with typical morphostructure: green chloroplasts, bright red round spot, and two polar flagella near the opening. As expected, the physiology of studied phototrophs was limited by low temperature, which defined them as obligate psychrophilic microorganisms. By the quantity estimation of methanogenesis in this lake, the litho-autotrophic production of organic matter is competitive with phototrophic production. However, pure cultures of methanogens have not yet been obtained. We discuss the primary producers of organic matter and the participation of our novel psychrophilic homoacetogen into the litho-autotrophic link of biomass production in Lake Untersee.

Pikuta, Elena V.↗