Marine diazo-nourishing bacteria, the hope of fighting climate change

A recent study showed that diazozozoics, a group of marine cyanobacteria, are able to convert nitrogen (_N2) into nutrients from marine primary producers, directly contributing to carbon output and sequestration of the seafloor
.

The results of this work represent a major paradigm shift, because until now, these microbes were known to "recycle" CO2 but experts didn't know that they also _{took away CO2} When they sink after death, they also sink, just like
other phytoplankton, that is, phytoplankton.

"This process is known as a biocarbon pump, and so far is largely due to the conversion of phytoplankton-2, which converts CO, into organic matter
in photosynthesis.
When it dies, the carbon sinks along with these microbes, storing about twice as
much carbon on the seabed as it is currently found in the atmosphere.
”

In turn, organisms at higher levels of the marine food web use the same organisms to survive, thus ensuring the functioning
of the entire marine system.
In fact, thanks to biocarbon pumps, the ocean is considered a carbon sink
.

Paradigm

The findings, now published, have important scientific implications, as current global biogeochemical models, tools used to predict the evolution and flux of carbon on Earth, do not take into account the direct contribution
of diazo nutrients in this process.
"Our findings will provide us with a more accurate picture of carbon fluxes in the oceans, which is particularly important when climate models predict the expansion of nitrogen-poor regions, where diazotrophes thrive," said
Sophie Bonnet, a MIO researcher who initiated the collaborative study.

To conduct the study, the researchers installed sediment traps at different depths during a campaign in the South Pacific, collected hundreds of samples, and then analyzed
them using microscopy, sequencing and DNA quantification techniques.

Thanks to this, they noticed that the particles that sank from the surface to the seafloor, in addition to phytoplankton organisms, contained a large and diverse amount and diversity of these diazo nutrients
.
All of this makes it possible for the first time to quantify the role of these microorganisms in
biogenic carbon pumps worldwide.

In future studies, experts will try to delve deeper into the role of diazo trophics in biocarbon pumps, with a particular focus on the routes
these microbes experience as they sink in different ocean regions.