New ethane-munching microbes discovered at hot vents

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen have discovered a microbe that feeds on ethane at deep-sea hot vents. With a share of up to 15%, ethane is the second-most common component of natural gas. The researchers also succeeded in cultivating this microbe in the laboratory. Notably, the mechanism by which it breaks down ethane is reversible. In the future, these microbes could be used to produce ethane as an energy source. The study has now been published in the journal mBio.

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