Gas-guzzling bacteria

11 May 2000

The discovery of a new soil bacterium that consumes methane by oxidising it under atmospheric conditions is reported in Nature, out today. In well-drained soils, these methane-oxidising bacteria can reduce atmospheric levels of methane by 10 per cent.

Methane is an important greenhouse gas, and over the last 200 years its concentration in the atmosphere has doubled. But, until now, its low levels in the soil have prevented the detection of atmospheric methane-oxidising bacteria.

"This new method, using stable carbon isotopes to detect these micro-organisms, allows us to track where carbon is incorporated into bacteria at the low atmospheric levels of methane in soils," says Dr Nisha Parekh, research co-ordinator from the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology. "Identifying these bacteria will help us to understand the process of methane oxidation in the soil, and to look for strategies for controlling and maximising the amount of atmospheric methane that is oxidised by soils."

Using the stable isotope method will allow identification of other micro-organisms, which carry out crucial environmental tasks but are not detected by current methods. This technique can now be used to look at the reactions of these ecologically important micro-organisms to changes in the environment, as well as their potential in the degradation of pollutants such as oil.

Further information

Dr Nisha Parekh
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Merlewood,
Windermere Road, Grange-over-Sands,
Cumbria, LA11 6JU.
Tel: 015395 32264
Fax: 015395 34705

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. The research is a result of collaborative work between Dr Nisha Parekh and Prof Philip Ineson, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Merlewood, Dr Grahame H Hall, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Windermere, and Dr Ian Bull and Prof Richard Evershed, NERC Geochemistry Mass Spectrometry Facility, University of Bristol.

2. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Merlewood, is a component institute of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). NERC is the leading body in the UK for research, survey, monitoring and training in the environmental sciences. NERC funds research in universities and in its own Centres and Surveys. NERC trains scientists for the future - more than 3,000 postgraduate students have been funded by NERC over the last five years.

Press release: 09/00

Gas-guzzling bacteria

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