Study reveals microorganisms, once infected, harbor novel genes for methane generation.
A recent study reveals that viruses that infect microbes contribute to climate change by playing a key role in cycling methane, a potent greenhouse gas, through the environment.
By analyzing nearly 1,000 sets of metagenomic
“It’s important to understand how microorganisms drive methane processes,” said Zhong, also a microbiologist whose research examines how microbes evolve in diverse environments. “Microbial contributions to methane metabolic processes have been studied for decades, but research into the viral field is still largely under-investigated and we want to learn more.”
The study was published in the journal DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46109-x
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Croatian Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the European Union, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Co-authors include Jingjie Du of Ohio State, as well as Stephan Kostlbacher and Petra Pjevac from the University of Vienna, and Sandi Orlić from the Ruđer Bošković Institute.