Strange libraries of supplementary gene nicknamed “Borg’ DNA seem to supercharge microbes, giving them the ability to metabolize materials faster than other organisms.
Researchers hope to discover more about how organisms use these unique extrachromosomal packets. This will allow them to design new ways to cut methane emissions.
After the death of a Study published last year(And now published in NatureResearchers have continued to study the variety of sequences that methane-munching microbes keep in these genetic depositaries to find out more about life’s evolution.
Named after the Star Trek aliensThese mysterious DNA elements can assimilate other species into a collective hive mind. They absorb beneficial genes from many organisms over long periods of time.
These Borgs were found in a methane-consuming microbe named MethanoperedensThey appear to have been able optimize their organisms over the millennia to increase the organism’s capacity to absorb methane.
“Imagine a single, living cell capable of consuming methane.” says environmental scientist Kenneth WilliamsFrom the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “Now, you can add genetic elements to that cell that can simultaneously consume methane and also add genetic element that gives the cell a higher capacity.”
It basically creates the conditions for methane consumption with steroids, if it is your will.”
Scientists believe Borgs may be a form DNA known as an extrachromosomal element (ECE). These genetic material packets are not part of an organism’s genome and come with tools that enable gene assimilation.
Borgs, unlike other ECEs have a linear structure and not a circular one. They also have a longer life span than usual. The team found 19 distinct Borg ECEs in samples taken from underground soil, aquifers, and riverbeds. Four complete sequences were also discovered.
Advanced genome analysis revealed that Borgs are compatible with many of the methane-metabolizing genes. Methanoperedens itself. In fact, some Borgs can eat methane all by themselves, provided they live in cells that are capable of expressing the Borg genes.
Scientists believe that Borgs may be leftovers from a wide variety of microbes, which were then absorbed by MethanoperedensAlthough not all of them are possible, MethanoperedensBorgs are found in microbes. One explanation for this is that Borgs act as stores for metabolic genes that are only needed at specific times – such as when there’s a lot of methane around.
This would indicate that there are some MethanoperedensBorgs are able to allow microbes go beyond what they can normally consume. These fascinating bits of DNA are still being unraveled.
“There is evidence that different types can coexist within the same host. Methanopreredens cell,” says environmental scientist Jillian BanfieldUniversity of California, Berkeley. “This suggests that Borgs may be spreading genes between lineages.
Researchers are currently studying how Borgs affect biological processes (in that cells develop) as well as geological processes (in that additional methane is extracted from the environment).
It’s a long, long way off – if we get there at all – but perhaps one day, Borg-packed microbes could be engineered to make a sizeable dent Annual methane emissionsA gas which is currently believed to account for around 30% of the world’s total. human-driven global warming.
Lab analysis is conducted in conjunction with field work to learn more about the extraordinary Borgs’ workings, and to trace back a past that could span billions of years.
“Assuming these genes either augment.” MethanoperedensBorgs can increase their energy metabolism, or extend the conditions in which they function, and the researchers write in their Published paper.
The research has been published in Nature.
