ArticleNature microbiology2021
Microbial production and consumption of hydrocarbons in the global ocean.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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.
The trial behind it
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
30 citing papers in PubMed, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ecosystem-scale genomic and metatranscriptomic evidence for a coupled, active short-term hydrocarbon cycle in the marine photic ocean.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
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- Biosurfactant biosynthesis by Alcanivorax borkumensis and its role in oil biodegradation.Nature chemical biology · 2025Article
- Hydrocarbon metabolism and petroleum seepage as ecological and evolutionary drivers for Cycloclasticus.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Maintaining ocean ecosystem health with hydrocarbonoclastic microbes.ISME communications · 2025Review
- Arctic's hidden hydrocarbon degradation microbes: investigating the effects of hydrocarbon contamination, biostimulation, and a surface washing agent on microbial communities and hydrocarbon biodegradation pathways in high-Arctic beaches.Environmental microbiome · 2024Article
- Metagenomic survey reveals hydrocarbon biodegradation potential of Canadian high Arctic beaches.Environmental microbiome · 2024Article
- Surfactant-Based Chemical Washing to Remediate Oil-Contaminated Soil: The State of Knowledge.Toxics · 2024Review
- Absence of alka(e)nes triggers profound remodeling of glycerolipid and carotenoid composition in cyanobacteria membrane.Plant physiology · 2024Article
- Enhanced nutrient supply promotes mutualistic interactions between cyanobacteria and bacteria in oligotrophic ocean.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- High Arctic seawater and coastal soil microbiome co-occurrence and composition structure and their potential hydrocarbon biodegradation.ISME communications · 2024Article
- Structure and Function of Alkane Monooxygenase (AlkB).Accounts of chemical research · 2023Review
- Genomic insights into cryptic cycles of microbial hydrocarbon production and degradation in contiguous freshwater and marine microbiomes.Microbiome · 2023Article
- Structure and mechanism of the alkane-oxidizing enzyme AlkB.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Incorporation, fate, and turnover of free fatty acids in cyanobacteria.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2023Review
- Geochemical characteristics and implications of hydrocarbon in source rocks of Chagan Sag, Yin'e basin of Inner Mongolia.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Influence of Extremely High Pressure and Oxygen on Hydrocarbon-Enriched Microbial Communities in Sediments from the Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- The phylogeny and metabolic potentials of anFrontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Seeps, spills and other oil pollution introduce hydrocarbons into the ocean. Marine cyanobacteria also produce hydrocarbons from fatty acids, but little is known about the size and turnover of this cyanobacterial hydrocarbon cycle. We report that cyanobacteria in an oligotrophic gyre mainly produce n-pentadecane and that microbial hydrocarbon production exhibits stratification and diel cycling in the sunlit surface ocean. Using chemical and isotopic tracing we find that pentadecane production mainly occurs in the lower euphotic zone. Using a multifaceted approach, we estimate that the global flux of cyanobacteria-produced pentadecane exceeds total oil input in the ocean by 100- to 500-fold. We show that rapid pentadecane consumption sustains a population of pentadecane-degrading bacteria, and possibly archaea. Our findings characterize a microbial hydrocarbon cycle in the open ocean that dwarfs oil input. We hypothesize that cyanobacterial hydrocarbon production selectively primes the ocean's microbiome with long-chain alkanes whereas degradation of other petroleum hydrocarbons is controlled by factors including proximity to petroleum seepage.
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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.