The process of photosynthesis is utilized by marine bacteria to absorb carbon dioxide, paving the way for biological analysis based on the function of “dark matter” in the deep marine environment.
For many years, scientists have struggled to determine whether ocean bacteria participate in global carbon cycling, as most marine bacteria have remained largely unstudied due to their inability to grow in laboratory settings.
New research sheds light on “dark matter” in the ocean. (Illustrative image: CAS).
This has limited the scientific community’s understanding, despite many hypotheses suggesting that these bacteria may be involved in the process of using sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into energy.
In a recent study, scientists from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have, for the first time, identified bacterial cells that participate in the fixation of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis from seawater.
To achieve this, they employed Stimulation of Chlorophyll Raman Spectroscopy (SCRS), allowing the bacteria to be exposed to sunlight. Subsequently, the researchers amplified the genes of isolated Pelagibacter cells and sequenced each cell.
The result was SAR11—one of the most abundant marine bacteria—capable of utilizing light energy metabolism to fix CO2 in seawater, thereby contributing to global carbon cycling.
According to Professor Xu Jian from the Cell Center of QIBEBT, this new research establishes a reliable link between the genes of uncultured bacteria in the ocean, helping to address fundamental issues and paving the way for biological analysis based on the function of “dark matter” in the deep marine environment.
The term “dark matter” refers to a hypothetical type of matter in the universe, the composition of which is not yet understood. Dark matter does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed with current telescopes or measuring devices, but it can be recognized due to its gravitational effects on solids and other objects, as well as on the universe as a whole. Based on current understanding of structures larger than galaxies, as well as widely accepted theories about the Big Bang, scientists believe that dark matter is a fundamental component constituting up to 70% of the matter in the universe. |
