Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

How deep-sea bacteria thrive under pressure

Microbes that survive in the dark depths import and process a molecule in seawater to armour their innards.
Morphological observation of strain D25 cultivated at different pressures

Subjected to pressures found 4 kilometres below the ocean surface, bacteria fare better (bottom) when fed the compound trimethylamine than bacteria that go without (top). Credit: Q. L. Qin et al./Sci. Adv.

Scientists have uncovered a cellular process that enables deep-sea bacteria to survive the high pressures found at the bottom of the ocean.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 592, 168 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00829-y

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links