Nanjing Soil Institute published an important review in the field of bacteria-archaeal mutual trophic metabolism of hydrocarbon pollutants in anaerobic environment...

The widespread use of organic chemicals has led to the widespread distribution
of hydrocarbon pollutants in numerous ecosystems around the world.
Many subsurface environments contaminated with hydrocarbon pollutants can become anaerobic or even methane (CH₄), and bacteria and archaea mediate the conversion of hydrocarbons to methane
.
In the presence of electron acceptors such as sulfate, nitrate, nitrite, manganese or iron, the methane produced is oxidized by anaerobic and archaea in combination or alone, a process that reduces methane emissions and contributes to climate change
mitigation.
Although the potential for mutual trophy between bacteria and archaea during anaerobic conversion of hydrocarbon compounds into methane oxidation has been widely demonstrated, the specific pathways and groups involved in the interaction are poorly
understood.

Wang Fang, a researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a review article in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (CREST, Environmental Science and Technology Review), which systematically elaborated the mutualization of bacteria and archaea in the process of anaerobic degradation of hydrocarbon pollutants, focusing on the mutualization of bacteria and archaea in anaerobic environment, the mutual degradation of hydrocarbon pollutants and the methanogenic process.
The role of bacteria and archaea in the anaerobic oxidation of methane and their environmental significance were deeply discussed.
Based on the combination of macroomics technology, stable isotope analysis technology and single-cell imaging technology, a method is proposed to accurately identify the species and functions of active microorganisms in the same nutrient community, discover new genes and enzymes, create new metabolic pathways, and visualize active cells and their metabolic activities
.
This article will help enrich our understanding of
key bacterial and archaeal groups, their metabolic pathways, mutualtrophic interactions in anaerobic transformation of hydrocarbon pollutants, and changes in hydrocarbon pollutants and their metabolites in methanogenic and methane trophic systems.

PhD student Jean Damascene Harindintwali is the first author of the paper, researcher Fang Wang is the corresponding author of the paper, Academician Zhu Yongguan of the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academician James M Tiedje, distinguished professor of Michigan State University, are the main co-authors
of the paper.
The paper was jointly funded
by the National Key R&D Program, the Strategic Class A Pilot Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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