Environmental Significance of Population Diversity in Methane-Oxidizing Bacteria

摘要97-07383利德斯特罗姆甲烷氧化细菌种群多样性的环境意义这个项目调查了不同类别的甲烷氧化细菌，以确定它们在一个自然生态系统中的性质：西雅图华盛顿湖的沉积物。新开发的环境基因探针将被用来列举特定类别的利用甲烷的细菌，这些结果将与这些细菌进行微量气体循环的过程测量相关联。利用甲烷气体的细菌是自然生态系统的重要组成部分。甲烷气体是由死亡有机体的自然分解产生的，这些细菌消耗这些气体，将甲烷中的碳保留在生态系统中。从水生和陆地生态系统逸出的甲烷气体进入大气，在那里它成为一种温室气体，对全球变暖有潜在的重大贡献。重要的是要了解利用甲烷的细菌的自然种群，以及这些细菌如何循环甲烷等痕量气体的细节。

ABSTRACT 97-07383 Lidstrom Environmental significance of population diversity in methane-oxidizing bacteria This project investigates different classes of methane-using bacteria to ascertain their properties in a natural ecosystem: the sediments of Lake Washington, Seattle. Newly developed environmental gene probes will be used to enumerate specific classes of methane-utilizing bacteria, and these results will be correlated with process measurements for trace gas cycling by these bacteria. Bacteria that use methane gas are important components of natural ecosystems. Methane gas is produced from the natural breakdown of dead organisms, and these bacteria consume this gas, keeping the carbon in the methane within the ecosystem. Methane gas that escapes from aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems enters the atmosphere, where it becomes a greenhouse gas with a potentially significant contribution to global warming. It is important to understand natural populations of methane-utilizing bacteria, and the details of how these bacteria cycle trace gases such as methane.