Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 325, Issue 5937, Pages 184-187Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169984
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [MCB-0348492]
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Astrobiology Institute [NNA04CC06A]
- Penn State Biogeochemical Research Initiative for Education (BRIE) [DGE-9972759]
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Anaerobic methanotrophs help regulate Earth's climate and may have been an important part of the microbial ecosystem on the early Earth. The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is often thought of as a sulfate-dependent process, despite the fact that other electron acceptors are more energetically favorable. Here, we show that microorganisms from marine methane-seep sediment in the Eel River Basin in California are capable of using manganese (birnessite) and iron (ferrihydrite) to oxidize methane, revealing that marine AOM is coupled, either directly or indirectly, to a larger variety of oxidants than previously thought. Large amounts of manganese and iron are provided to oceans from rivers, indicating that manganese- and iron-dependent AOM have the potential to be globally important.
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