[B-BG01] Earth and Planetary Science Frontiers for Life and Global Environment

[BBG01-06] Methane production from crude oil by a single methanogen

★Invited Papers

*Daisuke Mayumi¹ (1.National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Keywords:Methanogens, Crude oil, Oil reservoirs

Oil reservoirs, one of deep subsurface biospheres, harbor a variety of microorganisms whose physiological and ecological functions remain largely unknown. Among microbial activities in subsurface environments, methanogenic crude oil degradation is a unique biogeochemical process observed in oil reservoirs worldwide, and oil reservoir microorganisms play important roles in crude oil biodegradation. In fact, some bacteria degrade hydrocarbons in crude oil into acetate and H₂/CO₂, and then methanogens convert them into methane. Therefore, symbiotic interactions between bacteria and methanogens, i.e., syntrophy, have been considered essential for the methanogenic crude oil degradation. Here we report on the discovery of a crude oil degrading methanogenic archaea that does not require such a syntrophic relationship through cultivation and meta-omics analysis.