Journal
ANNUAL REVIEW OF MICROBIOLOGY, VOL 67
Volume 67, Issue -, Pages 437-457Publisher
ANNUAL REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-micro-092412-155614
Keywords
archaea; biogeochemical cycles; metabolism; carbon; nitrogen; sulfur
Categories
Funding
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [I 487] Funding Source: researchfish
- Austrian Science Fund FWF [I 487] Funding Source: Medline
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Archaea constitute a considerable fraction of the microbial biomass on Earth. Like Bacteria they have evolved a variety of energy metabolisms using organic and/or inorganic electron donors and acceptors, and many of them are able to fix carbon from inorganic sources. Archaea thus play crucial roles in the Earth's global geochemical cycles and influence greenhouse gas emissions. Methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation are important steps in the carbon cycle; both are performed exclusively by anaerobic archaea. Oxidation of ammonia to nitrite is performed by Thaumarchaeota. They represent the only archaeal group that resides in large numbers in the global aerobic terrestrial and marine environments on Earth. Sulfur-dependent archaea are confined mostly to hot environments, but metal leaching by acidophiles and reduction of sulfate by anaerobic, nonthermophilic methane oxidizers have a potential impact on the environment. The metabolisms of a large number of archaea, in particular those dominating the subsurface, remain to be explored.
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