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Microbial Processes of Methane Oxidation at the Kara Sea Sites of Gas Prospecting

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Abstract

Methane oxidation rates and diversity of methane-oxidizing microorganisms in the Kara Sea upper sediments at the sites of conserved gas prospecting wells were investigated. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed members of the class Gammaproteobacteria, order Methylococcales. All samples exhibited similar diversity of the methane filter microorganisms, comprising mainly of methanotrophs related to the genus Methyloprofundus and of uncultured methanotrophic bacteria detected previously in the upper sediments of the Arctic seas. Molecular identification of methane-oxidizing bacteria of this community by high-throughput sequencing of the pmoA gene encoding particulate methane monooxygenase confirmed the similar structure of the methane filter in the upper sediments impaired by drilling and at the reference sites at significant distance from the wells. The sediments at the conserved well drilled less than two years earlier were shown to have the characteristics of a methane seep, i.e., elevated level of dissolved methane and high rates of microbial methane oxidation. No indication of methane seepage was observed for the wells conserved more than two years earlier; abundance of methane-oxidizing bacteria in their vicinity was below the detection threshold.

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Funding

The work was partially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant no. A 20-04-00126 and by the State Assignment of the Research Center for Biotechnology, Russ. Acad. Sci. Sequencing and bioinformatic analysis of the pmoA genes was supported by the RF Ministry of Science and Higher Education (agreement no. 075-15-2019-1659 for development of the Kurchatov Center for Genomic Research).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    E. N. Tikhonova, I. I. Rusanov, V. V. Kadnikov, E. V. Demkina & N. V. Pimenov

  2. National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, Kurchatov Complex for Genetic Research (GosNIIgenetika), 123098, Moscow, Russia

    S. V. Toshchakov & A. O. Izotova

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  1. E. N. Tikhonova
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Correspondence to E. N. Tikhonova.

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Translated by P. Sigalevich

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Tikhonova, E.N., Rusanov, I.I., Kadnikov, V.V. et al. Microbial Processes of Methane Oxidation at the Kara Sea Sites of Gas Prospecting. Microbiology 92, 171–182 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261722603268

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