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ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY

Cryptic microbial hydrocarbon cycling

Nature Microbiology volume 6, pages 419–420 (2021)Cite this article

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Cyanobacteria, which produce ~25% of global oxygen, also release around 100 times more hydrocarbons into the ocean than all petroleum sources. A cryptic microbial cycle explains why these hydrocarbons do not accumulate in the sea.

In their extensive and multifaceted field study, Love et al. measured alkanes in the particulate fraction of 441 samples from North Atlantic waters that were mostly oligotrophic. This region is representative of ~40% of the global ocean where Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are the dominant photoautotrophs. The particulate fraction containing microbial cells was studied because alkanes are found in cyanobacterial membranes, where they are essential for optimizing cell size and division4. The predominantly detected alkane in situ was n-pentadecane, and its concentration along depth profiles correlated with cyanobacteria cell counts, peaking in the deep chlorophyll maximum. Thus, cyanobacteria were identified as the primary candidates for n-pentadecane production.

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Fig. 1: Short- and long-term hydrocarbon cycles in the global ocean.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK

    Terry J. McGenity & Boyd A. McKew

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    David J. Lea-Smith

Authors
  1. Terry J. McGenity
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  2. Boyd A. McKew
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  3. David J. Lea-Smith
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Correspondence to Terry J. McGenity.

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McGenity, T.J., McKew, B.A. & Lea-Smith, D.J. Cryptic microbial hydrocarbon cycling. Nat Microbiol 6, 419–420 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-00881-4

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