Abstract
As the major biological sink of methane in marine sediments, the microbially mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is crucial in its role of maintaining a sensitive balance of our atmosphere’s greenhouse gas content. Although there is now sufficient geochemical evidence to exactly locate the “hot spots” of AOM, and to crudely estimate its contribution to the methane cycle, a fundamental understanding of the associated biology is still lacking, consequently preventing a thorough biogeochemical understanding of an integral process in the global carbon cycle. Earlier microbiological work trying to resolve the enigma of AOM mostly failed because it was largely focussed on the simulation of AOM under laboratory conditions using cultivable candidate organisms. Now again, understanding the biological and biochemical details of AOM is the declared goal of several interational research groups, but this time in a combined effort of biogeochemists and microbiologists using novel analytical tools tailored for the study of unknown microbes and habitats. This review gives an overview on very recent progress in the study of AOM that dramatically advanced this ~ 30-yr-old field. New insights on the quantitative significance of AOM are combined to refine older estimates.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aharon P, Fu B (2000) Microbial sulfate reduction rates and sulfur and oxygen isotope fractionations at oil and gas seeps in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 64:233–246
Alperin MJ, Reeburgh, WS (1985) Inhibition experiments on anaerobic methane oxidation. Appl Environ Microbiol 50:940–945.
Barnes RO, Goldberg ED (1976) Methane production and consumption in anoxic marine sediments. Geol 4:297–300
Bian L (1994) Isotopic biogeochemistry of individual compounds in a modern coastal marine sediment (Kattegat, Denmark and Sweden). MSc thesis, Indiana University
Bian L, Hinrichs K-U, Xie T, Brassell SC, Iversen N, Fossing H, Jørgensen BB, Hayes JM (2001) Algal and archaeal polyisoprenoids in a recent marine sediment: Molecular-isotopic evidence for anaerobic oxidation of methane. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 2:#2000GC000112
Bidle K, Kastner M, Bartlett DH (1999) A phylogenetic analysis of microbial communities associated with methane hydrate containing marine fluids and sediments in the Cascadia margin (ODP site 892B). FEMS Microbiol Lett 177:101–108
Boetius A, Ravenschlag K, Schubert C, Rickert D, Widdel F, Gieseke A, Amann R, Jørgensen BB, Witte U, Pfannkuche O (2000) A marine microbial consortium apparently mediating anaerobic oxidation of methane. Nature 407:623–626
Borowski WS, Paull CK, Ussler III W (1996) Marine pore-water sulfate profiles indicate in-situ methane flux from underlying gas hydrate. Geol 24:655–658
Borowski WS, Hoehler TM, Alperin MJ, Rodrigez NM, Paull CK (2000) Significance of anaerobic methane oxidation in methane-rich sediments overlying the Blake Ridge sediments. Proc ODP Sci Res 164:87–99
Burns SJ (1998) Carbon isotopic evidence for coupled sulfate reduction-methane oxidation in Amazon Fan sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 62:797–804
Bussmann I, Dando PR, Niven SJ, Suess E (1999) Groundwater seepage in the marine environment: Role for mass flux and bacterial activity. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 178:169–177
Canfield DE, Habicht KS, Thamdrup B (2000) The Archaean sulfur cycle and the early history of atmospheric oxygen. Science 288:658–661
Devol AH (1983) Methane oxidation rates in the anaerobic sediments of Saanich Inlet. Limnol Oceanogr 28:738–742
Elvert M, Suess E, Whiticar MJ (1999) Anaerobic methane oxidation associated with marine gas hydrates: Superlight C-isotopes from saturated and unsaturated C20 and C25 irregular isoprenoids. Naturwiss 86:295–300
Elvert M, Suess E, Greinert J, Whiticar MJ (2000) Archaea mediating anaerobic methane oxidation in deep-sea Sediments at cold seeps of the eastern Aleutian subduction zone. Org Geochem 31:1175–1187
Farquhar J, Bao H, Thiemens M (2000) Atmospheric influence of Earth’s earliest sulfur cycle. Science 289:756–758
Fossing H, Ferdelman TG, Berg P(2000) Sulfate reduction and methane oxidation in continental margin sediments influenced by irrigation (South-East Atlantic offNamibia). Geochim Cosmochim Acta 64:897–910
Gaasterland T (1999) Archaeal genomics. Curr Opin Microbiol 2:542–547
Hansen LB, Finster K, Fossing H, Iversen N (1998) Anaerobic methane oxidation in sulfate depleted sediments: Effects of sulfate and molybdate additions. Aquat Microb Ecol 14:195–204
Harder J (1997) Anaerobic methane oxidation by bacteria employing 14C-methane uncontaminated with 14C -carbon monoxide. Mar Geol 137:13–23
Hayes JM (1994) Global methanotrophy at the Archaean Proterozoic transition. In: Bengtson S (ed) Early Life on Earth. Nobel Symposium No. 84, Columbia University Press, pp 220–236
Hinrichs K-U, Hayes JM, Sylva, SP, Brewer PG, DeLong EF (1999) Methane-consuming archaebacteria in marine sediments. Nature 398:802–805
Hinrichs K-U, Summons RE, Orphan V, Sylva SP, Hayes JM (2000) Molecular and isotopic analyses of anaerobic methane-oxidizing communities in marine sediments. Org Geochem 31:1685–1701
Hinrichs (2002) Microbial fixation of methane carbon at 2.7Ga: Was an anaerobic mechanism possible? Geochem Geophys Geosys Vol. 3, 10.1029/ 2001GC000286, http://www.g-cubed.org
Hoehler TM, Alperin MJ, Albert DB, Martens CS (1994) Field and laboratory studies of methane oxidation in an anoxic marine sediments: Evidence for methanogen-sulfate. Glob Biogeochem Cycl 8:451–463
Hoehler TM, Alperin MJ (1996) Anaerobic methane oxidation by a methanogen-sulfate reducer consortium: geochemical evidence and biochemical considerations. In: Lidstrom ME, Tabita FR (eds) Microbial Growth on C1 Compounds. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 326–333
Huber R, Wilharm T, Huber D, Trincone A, Burggraf S, Rachel R, Rockinger I, Fricke H, Stetter KO (1992) Aquifex pyrophilus gen. nov. sp. nov., represents a novel group of marine hyperthermophilic hydrogenoxidizing bacteria. Syst Appl Microbiol 15:340–351
Iversen N, Jørgensen BB (1985) Anaerobic methane oxidation rates at the sulfate-methane transition in marine sediments from Kattegat and Skagerrak (Denmark). Limnol Oceanogr 30:944–955
Iversen N, Blackburn TH (1981) Seasonal rates of methane oxidation in anoxic marine sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol 41:1295–1300
Jørgensen BB (1983). Processes at the Sediment-Water Interface. In: Bolin B, Cook RC (eds) The Major Biogeochemical Cycles and their Interactions. SCOPE, pp 477–509
Jørgensen BB, Weber A, Zopfi J (in press) Sulfate reduction and anaerobic methane oxidation in Black Sea sediments. Deep-Sea Res
Koga Y, Morii H, Akagawa-Matsushita M, Ohga M (1998) Correlation ofpolar lipid composition with 16S rRNA phylogeny in methanogens. Further Analysis
of lipid component parts. Biosci Biotech Biochem 62:230–236
Lein A, Pimenov NV, Savvichev AS, Pavlova GA, Vogt PR, Bogdanov YA, Sagalevich, AM, Ivanov, MV (2000) Methane as a source of organic matter and carbon dioxide of carbonates at a cold seep in the Norway Sea. Geochem Int 38:232–245
Li YH, Greogory, S (1974) Diffusion of ions in seawater and in deep-sea sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 38:703–714
Niewöhner C, Hensen C, Kasten S, Zabel M, Schulz HD (1998) Deep sulfate reduction completely mediated by anaerobic methane oxidation in sediments of the upwelling area off Namibia. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 62:455–464
Orphan VJ, Hinrichs K-U, Paull CK, Taylor LT, Sylva SP, Delong EF (in press) Comparative analysis of methane-oxidizing archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria in anoxic marine sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol
Pancost RD, Sinninghe Damsté JS, Lint SD, van der Maarel MJEC, Gottschal JC, Shipboard Scientific Party (2000) Biomarker evidence for widespread anaerobic methane oxidation in Mediterranean sediments by a consortium of methanogenic archaea and bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:1126–1132
Reeburgh WS (1976) Methane consumption in Cariaco Trench waters and sediments. Earth Planet Sci Lett 28:337–344
Reeburgh WS (1980) Anaerobic methane oxidation: Rate depth distribution in Skan Bay sediments. Earth Planet Sci Lett 47:345–352
Reeburgh WS (1996) “Soft spots” in the global methane budget. In: Lidstrom ME, Tabita FR, Microbial Growth on C1 Compounds. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 334–342
Schouten S, Hoefs MJL, Koopmans MP, Bosch H-J, Sinninghe Damsté JS (1998) Structural characterization, occurrence and fate of archaeal ether-bound acyclic and cyclic biphytanes and corresponding diols in sediments. Org Geochem 29:1305–1319
Shilov AE, Koldasheva, EM, Kovalenko SV, Akenteva NP, Varfolomeev SV, Kalynzhn YSV, Sklyar VI (1999) Methanogenesis is a reversible process: The formation of acetate under the carboxylation of methane by bacteria of methane biocenosis. Rep Acad Sci 367:557–559 (in Russian)
Sibuet M, Olu K (1998) Biogeography, biodiversity and fluid dependence of deep-sea cold-seep communities at active and passive margins. Deep-Sea Res II 45:517–567
Sørensen KB, Finster K, Ramsing NB (in press) Thermodynamic and kinetic requirements in anaerobic methane oxidizing consortia exclude hydrogen, acetate and methanol as possible electron shuttles. Microb Ecol
Suess E, Torres ME, Bohrmann G, Collier RW, Greinert J, Linke P, Rehder G, Trehu A, Wallmann K, Winckler G, Zuleger E (1999) Gas hydrate destabilization: Enhanced dewatering, benthic material turnover and large methane plumes at the Cascadia convergent margin. Earth Planet Sci Lett 170:1–15
Summons RE, Franzmann PD, Nichols PD (1998) Carbon isotopic fractionation associated with methylo-trophic methanogenesis. Org Geochem 28:465–475
Summons RE, Jahnke LL, Hope JM, Logan GA (1999) 2-Methylhopanoids as biomarkers for cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis. Nature 400:554–557
Teske A, Hinrichs K-U, Edgcomb V, Kysela D, Sogin ML (2001) Novel Archea in Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent sediments: Evidence for anaerobic methanotrophy. In: Boss et al. (eds) Abstracts, General Meeting of the NASA Astrobiology Institute: Washington DC, NASA Astrobiology Institute, p 138–139
Thiel V, Peckmann J, Seifert R, Wehrung P, Reitner J, Michaelis W (1999) Highly isotopically depleted isoprenoids: Molecular markers for ancient methane venting. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:3959–3966
Thiel V, Peckmann J, Richnow HH, Luth U, Reitner J, Michaelis W (2001) Molecular signals for anaerobic methane oxidation in Black Sea seep carbonates and a microbial mat. Mar Chem 73:97–112
Thomsen T, Finster K, Ramsing NB (in press) Biogeochemical and molecular signatures of anaerobic methane oxidation in a marine sediment. Appl Environ Microbiol
Valentine DL, Reeburgh WS (2000) New perspectives on anaerobic methane oxidation. Environ Microbiol 2:477–484
Zabel M, Schulz HD (in press) Effects of a submarine land-slide on a pore water system at the lower Zaire (Congo) deep-sea fan. Mar Geol Zehnder AJ, Brock TD (1979) Methane formation and methane oxidation by methanogenic bacteria. J Bacteriol 137:420–32
Zeng YB, Ward DM, Brassell SC, Eglinton G (1992) Biogeochemistry of hot spring environments 3. Apolar and polar lipids in the biologically active layers of a cyanobacterial mat. Chem Geol 95:347–360
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hinrichs, KU., Boetius, A. (2002). The Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane: New Insights in Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry. In: Wefer, G., Billett, D., Hebbeln, D., Jørgensen, B.B., Schlüter, M., van Weering, T.C.E. (eds) Ocean Margin Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05127-6_28
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05127-6_28
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07872-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-05127-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive