Connecting Genes to Molecules in Bacterial Communities That Sequester the Greenhouse Gas Methane

Abstract:

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a target for near-term climate change mitigation. In the environment, methane is sequestered by bacterial communities. However, little is known about how constituents of methane-oxidizing communities interact with each other and their environment despite the availability of significant amounts of DNA and RNA sequencing data. Bacteria often mediate interactions using natural products: biologically produced compounds with potent bioactivities ranging from warfare to signaling. We are developing methods to link genes in bacteria that grow on methane and methanol with their associated (and underexplored) natural products in pure cultures and complex communities. This includes using inverse stable isotopic labeling (InverSIL) as well as developing a model ecosystem for studying methane-oxidizing bacteria in the lab. These methods are helping us gain a molecular-level understanding of these communities, which will enable the prediction and optimization of their functions from sequencing data in the future. These approaches can also be used for the functional characterization of other microbial communities that play essential roles in environmental and human health.