Microbes produce oxygen in the dark

Jan 14, 2022

Ability demonstrated for the first time in archaea could change previous view of marine nitrogen cycle

The single-celled organism Nitrosopumilus maritimus can produce oxygen. Researchers at the University of Oldenburg and Syddansk Universitet have demonstrated this - for the first time in an organism from the domain of archaea. Photo: University of Oldenburg

Only a few microorganisms are able to produce oxygen in complete darkness. A new member of this exclusive circle is the extremely small unicellular organism Nitrosopumilus maritimus. It is often found in marine regions with very low oxygen concentrations and belongs to the archaea. Alongside eukaryotes, which include humans and animals, and bacteria, archaea form the third domain into which scientists classify all living organisms on earth. N. maritimus is one of the ammonia-oxidizing archaea that can convert ammonia to nitrite. Presumably, the organism under investigation uses a previously unknown metabolic pathway to carry out this biochemical process with self-produced oxygen, researchers from the University of Oldenburg and the Syddansk Universiteit in Odense (Denmark) now report in the journal Science.

Among others, marine microbiologist Prof. Dr. Martin Könneke, who moved from MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences to the University of Oldenburg last year, provided the organism N. maritimus and helped plan the experiments, which were conducted in laboratories at Syddansk Universitet. There, Prof. Dr. Beate Kraft, a microbiologist and first author of the article, conducts research on the importance of microorganisms for marine matter cycles. Martin Könneke is also part of the cluster "The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted interface”, located at MARUM.

More information (in German)

Martin Könneke’s working group in Oldenburg

Martin Könneke‘s research at MARUM

Original publication:

Beate Kraft, Morten Larsen, Martin Könneke et al.: „Oxygen and nitrogen production by an ammonia-oxidizing archaeon“, Science (2022), doi.org/10.1126/science.abe6733