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Microbes the miniscule organisms that are found all around us but are invisible to the naked eye play a vital role in capturing carbon and affecting the climate. Plus they could also be harnessed to tackle other environmental problems such as the drastic fall in pollinator populations. Scientists have recently discovered a microbe a type of cyanobacteria off the coast of a volcanic island near Sicily that eats carbon dioxide CO astonishingly quickly.
The island of Vulcano is surrounded by underwater hydrothermal vents which are rich sources of CO. These vents are located in shallow water which means they are exposed to sunlight unlike vents in the deep ocean. Mobile App Development Service All this has created the perfect environment for the evolution of microbes that use CO as a food source. The microbes found here in September are hyperefficient at consuming CO through photosynthesis says Braden Tierney a data scientist focusing on microbiology at Weill Cornell.
Medical College and Harvard Medical School and executive director of the led the research. The project was funded by US biotechnology company Seed Health which employs Tierney as a consultant. Together with a team of researchers from Harvard and Cornell universities in the US and the University of Palermo in Sicily and with help from the Vulcano community Tierney isolated a microbe that converted CO into biomass faster than other known cyanobacteria.
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發表於 2023-12-21 17:01:46
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