ArticleFrontiers in microbiology2011
Acetogenesis in the energy-starved deep biosphere - a paradox?
Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 138 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genomic and transcriptomic insights into the ecology and metabolism of benthic archaeal cosmopolitan, Thermoprofundales (MBG-D archaea).The ISME journal · 2019Pooled it
- Microbial processes in geological carbon sequestration: Mechanisms, methods, and engineering implications.iScience · 2026Review
- Microbial assembly and metabolic restructuring following COAMB Express · 2026Article
- Deep subsurface rock-hosted chemolithotrophic bacterial communities exhibited differential COScientific reports · 2026Article
- Gas pipelines, highways for hydrogenotrophic spore-forming bacteria.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Tracking active heterotrophic microbial communities in the Guaymas Basin deep biosphere with BONCAT-FACS.ISME communications · 2026Article
- Hydrogeological compartmentalization outweighs hydrochemistry in structuring microbial communities across contrasting subsurface habitats.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Vertically stratified carbon fixation and coupling processes in deep-sea sediment.ISME communications · 2025Article
- A global comparison of surface and subsurface microbiomes reveals large-scale biodiversity gradients, and a marine-terrestrial divide.Science advances · 2024Article
- Taxonomic and functional partitioning of Chloroflexota populations under ferruginous conditions at and below the sediment-water interface.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2024Article
- The nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Article
- The diversification and potential function of microbiome in sediment-water interface of methane seeps in South China Sea.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Electromicrobiological concentration cells are an overlooked potential energy conservation mechanism for subsurface microorganisms.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Well-hidden methanogenesis in deep, organic-rich sediments of Guaymas Basin.The ISME journal · 2023Article
- Anaerobic degradation of organic carbon supports uncultured microbial populations in estuarine sediments.Microbiome · 2023Article
- Implications of a short carbon pulse on biofilm formation on mica schist in microcosms with deep crystalline bedrock groundwater.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- The root zone of graminoids: A niche for HFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Sources and Fluxes of Organic Carbon and Energy to Microorganisms in Global Marine Sediments.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Epilithic Microbial Community Functionality in Deep Oligotrophic Continental Bedrock.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Under anoxic conditions in sediments, acetogens are often thought to be outcompeted by microorganisms performing energetically more favorable metabolic pathways, such as sulfate reduction or methanogenesis. Recent evidence from deep subseafloor sediments suggesting acetogenesis in the presence of sulfate reduction and methanogenesis has called this notion into question, however. Here I argue that acetogens can successfully coexist with sulfate reducers and methanogens for multiple reasons. These include (1) substantial energy yields from most acetogenesis reactions across the wide range of conditions encountered in the subseafloor, (2) wide substrate spectra that enable niche differentiation by use of different substrates and/or pooling of energy from a broad range of energy substrates, (3) reduced energetic cost of biosynthesis among acetogens due to use of the reductive acetyl CoA pathway for both energy production and biosynthesis coupled with the ability to use many organic precursors to produce the key intermediate acetyl CoA. This leads to the general conclusion that, beside Gibbs free energy yields, variables such as metabolic strategy and energetic cost of biosynthesis need to be taken into account to understand microbial survival in the energy-depleted deep biosphere.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.