{"id":3945,"date":"2016-05-16T16:11:42","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T23:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/?p=3945"},"modified":"2016-05-16T16:11:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T23:11:42","slug":"tiny-ocean-bacteria-alter-climate-gases-regulate-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2016\/05\/tiny-ocean-bacteria-alter-climate-gases-regulate-atmosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny ocean bacteria alter climate gases to regulate atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAR11, the most abundant plankton in the world\u2019s oceans, are pumping out massive amounts of two sulfur gases that play important roles in stabilizing the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, researchers announced in the journal Nature Microbiology<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“Everyone knows these gases by their smells,” said Steve Giovannoni, a distinguished professor of microbiology in the College of Science, and corresponding author of the study.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOne of these compounds \u2013 dimethylsulfide, or DMS – we recognize as the smell of the sea. The other gas – methanethiol – makes us think of leaking gas lines. In the atmosphere, dimethylsulfide oxidizes to sulfuric acid, which some scientists think can seed cloud formation and alter heating of the Earth.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Samples

Samples of SAR11 being collected off the coast of Bermuda. Photo credit: Ben Temperton<\/p><\/div>\n

What is most interesting, the scientists noted, is that the newly discovered metabolic circuit is hardwired into cells. Normally, cells turn genes on and off as they are needed, but the newly discovered circuits for sulfur gas production by SAR11 are on all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“That doesn’t mean the cells are always producing the gases,” said Giovannoni. \u201cBut they are always ready if algae in the surrounding water make DMSP, a compound that the SAR11 cells harvest for energy, releasing sulfur gases as waste products.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Many types of gaseous fumes emerge from the ocean, such as formaldehyde, acetone and methanol, according to Giovannoni. However, researchers were very surprised that the cells produced both DMS and methanethiol. The DMS is made by a newly discovered gene, according to the study, and it was completely unexpected. While the authors knew the cells could make methanethiol internally, they did not expect it to be released in large quantities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read the complete story<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study by microbiologist Steve Giovannoni finds that one of the most abundant plankton in our oceans are pumping out massive amounts of sulfur gases that play important roles in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5667,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[642659,641210,523],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marine-studies","category-mb","category-research"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6vHeb-11D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3998,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2016\/05\/osu-microbiologist-pierces-riddle-clouds-form\/","url_meta":{"origin":3945,"position":0},"title":"Microbiologist pierces riddle of why clouds form","author":"nayaks","date":"May 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Clouds that form at sea are key to regulating atmospheric temperatures, and scientists now understand more of the chemistry involved.","rel":"","context":"In "Biohealth Science"","block_context":{"text":"Biohealth Science","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/area\/biohealth-science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6997,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/05\/study-illuminates-fate-marine-carbon-last-steps-toward-sequestration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3945,"position":1},"title":"Study illuminates fate of marine carbon in last steps toward sequestration","author":"nayaks","date":"May 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new study by Oregon State microbiologists reveals how deep-water bacteria's genomes break down carbon molecules","rel":"","context":"In "Faculty and Staff"","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2017\/05\/SAR202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10253,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2018\/10\/microbiology-senior-undertakes-neuroscience-research-in-spain\/","url_meta":{"origin":3945,"position":2},"title":"Microbiology senior undertakes neuroscience research in Spain","author":"nayaks","date":"October 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Gilman scholarship took microbiology senior Julianna Donohoe to Spain for her medical research internship.","rel":"","context":"In "Microbiology"","block_context":{"text":"Microbiology","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/mb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5469,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2016\/05\/faculty-represents-osu-white-house-announcement-national-microbiome-initiative\/","url_meta":{"origin":3945,"position":3},"title":"Microbiologist represents OSU at White House announcement of national microbiome initiative","author":"farrisd","date":"May 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Leading microbiome researcher Thomas Sharpton participated in the White House's announcement of a Transdisciplinary Initiative for Microbiome Research.","rel":"","context":"In "Biohealth Science"","block_context":{"text":"Biohealth Science","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/area\/biohealth-science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thomas Sharpton, Assistant Professor of Microbiology","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2017\/01\/sharpton.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11500,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2019\/06\/microbiology-senior-quest-for-challenge-leads-her-into-space-exploration\/","url_meta":{"origin":3945,"position":4},"title":"Microbiology senior’s quest for challenge leads to space research","author":"cissnat","date":"June 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Jessica Scotten found her dream major. Now she is preparing for a career in space research.","rel":"","context":"In "Microbiology"","block_context":{"text":"Microbiology","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/mb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2019\/06\/Jessica-Scotten-2-500x700.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6116,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/03\/microbiology-research-wows\/","url_meta":{"origin":3945,"position":5},"title":"Microbiology research that wows","author":"nayaks","date":"March 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Microbiology Student Association Research Symposium will be held on April 8, 2017, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.","rel":"","context":"In "Biohealth Science"","block_context":{"text":"Biohealth Science","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/area\/biohealth-science\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2017\/03\/MSA-Research-Symposium-flier-2017_updated-1-1-495x700.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5667"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3945"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3982,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3945\/revisions\/3982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}