Bacteria that can convert carbon into food

Bacteria that can convert carbon into food

Sulekha rani.R, PGT Chemistry,KV NTPC kayamkulam... ....................................................article from timesofindia

WASHINGTON: Scientists have identified some mysterious organisms in the dark depths of the ocean which they believe are converting carbon dioxide into a form useful for life. The bugs, which the scientists call "twilight" microbes, could be the missing link of global carbon cycle as they are found turning inorganic carbon into useable food some 2,625 feet below the ocean surface , LiveScience reported.

(Michael Sieracki and Jane Heywood at an inFlux fluorescence-activated cell sorter, a device used to separate out individual microbial cells at Bigelow Laboratory Single Cell Genomics Center. Researchers at Bigelow separated out single cells from ocean samples, contributing to research on carbon-capturing microbes in the deep ocean.

CREDIT: Dennis Griggs, Bigelow Laboratory Single Cell Genomics Center

The job of capturing carbon — crucial to sustaining life on Earth — is usually carried out by plants that use sunlight as energy. But light doesn't penetrate below 656 feet of ocean, so plants can't do this job. To survive, living cells must convert carbon dioxide into molecules that can form cellular structures or be used in metabolic processes , the scientists said.

Simple, single-celled organisms called archaea that often live in extreme conditions were thought to be responsible for much of the dark ocean's carbon fixation. But there was evidence that archaea could not account for the total amount of carbon fixation going on there.