The Shenzhen university team "Nature" published a paper that confirmed for the first time that ancient bacteria can produce methane by "eating" petroleum

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Nandu News Reporter Wu Manna Correspondent Li Shizhuo Recently, the team of Professor Li Meng of the Institute for Advanced Study of Shenzhen University cooperated with the team of researchers Cheng Lei of the Biogas Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the team of Professor Gunter Wegener of the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology in Germany to make breakthroughs in the study of methane production by long-chain alkanes by archaea, and the relevant research papers were published in the international top academic journal "Nature". The study confirmed for the first time the methanogenic function of a new class of methanidatus (Candidatus Methanoliparum) independently degrading long-chain alkyl hydrocarbons. Professor Li Meng of the Institute for Advanced Study of Shenzhen University is the co-corresponding author of the paper, and zhang Cuijing, an associate researcher of the team member, is the co-first author of the paper.

Degradation of long-chain alkyl hydrocarbons by archaea to produce methane and related metabolic pathways

Oil is an important energy substance, after more than a century of exploitation, there have been a large number of "old" oil wells, conventional means of extraction can no longer effectively carry out crude oil extraction, a large number of crude oil "sleeping" in the ground. Using microorganisms to convert oil into natural gas methane is a cheap, clean way to extract it. Past studies have believed that the process of degrading petroleum hydrocarbon methane is completed by bacteria and archaea through mutual metabolism, which has problems such as time-consuming and unstable system.

The study obtained a new class of methanidatus Methanoliparum (Candidatus Methanoliparum) through long-term enrichment of samples from shengli oilfield. Through a series of analysis results such as fluorescence in situ hybridization, stable carbon isotope label culture, metagenomic and macrotrapolymer sequencing, and high-resolution mass spectrometry, it was proved that this type of methanogenic archaea can directly oxidize long-chain alkyl hydrocarbons and enter methanogenic metabolism through the β-oxidation and Wood-Ljungdahl pathways without the need for interoperation metabolism. That is, this new type of methanogenic archaea can bypass complex processes without cooperating with other microorganisms and directly "eat" oil to produce methane.

The study confirmed that the archaea can independently degrade complex petroleum hydrocarbons to produce methane, and proposed a new type of oligobacterial methane production, that is, long-chain alkane metabolism methane-producing, which is different from the traditional hydrogen nutrient type, acetic acid reduction and methyl nutrient type. The journal Nature believes that this discovery has taken a big step forward in the study of methanogenic archaea, providing new insights for both basic research and future applications.

It is reported that the results of the study expand people's understanding of the physiological and metabolic functions of methane-producing archaea, improve the biogeochemical process of carbon cycle, and lay a scientific foundation for the biogasification and exploitation of residual crude oil in underground depleted oil reservoirs. According to preliminary estimates, in the future, if this new type of ancient mushroom can be applied to the exploitation of existing underground depleted oil reservoirs in China, and the use of microorganisms to convert oil into natural gas methane, not only will the co-production of oil and gas become possible, but the total amount of oil and gas produced can be equivalent to recreating a Daqing oilfield, which will be of great significance to ensuring China's energy security.