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ANME-SRB Marine Methane Seep Consortium

Community ID CommunityMech:000134
Ecological State STABLE
Environment marine sediment
ENVO:00002007

Natural marine methane-seep consortia in which anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) grow in syntrophic partnership with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). These structured aggregates couple anaerobic oxidation of methane to sulfate reduction, limiting methane release from ocean sediments. The interaction is frequently organized as multicellular consortia containing ANME archaeal cells and bacterial sulfate reducers, with genomic evidence supporting direct interspecies electron transfer from ANME to the SRB partner.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
anaerobic methanotrophic archaea NCBITaxon:2157
PRIMARY_DEGRADER
N/A
  • PMID:37747940 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) in obligate syntrophic partnership"
  • PMID:34986141 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "none of which have been isolated in pure culture"
sulfate-reducing bacterial partners NCBITaxon:213118
SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER
N/A
  • PMID:19383036 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "sulfate-reducing bacteria (DSS), frequently found as organized consortia"
  • PMID:11034209 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "a bacterium related to sulphate-reducing bacteria"

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for ANME-SRB Marine Methane Seep Consortium Bipartite graph where circle nodes represent taxa and colored rectangles represent ecological interactions (cross-feeding, mutualism, syntrophy, competition, commensalism).
Taxon
Cross-feeding
Mutualism
Syntrophy
Competition
Commensalism
Niche partitioning
Colonization facilitation
Strain competition
Predation

Sulfate-Coupled Anaerobic Methane Oxidation

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: anaerobic methanotrophic archaea

Target Taxon: sulfate-reducing bacterial partners

Metabolites: methane (CHEBI:16183), sulfate (CHEBI:16189), carbon dioxide (CHEBI:16526)

Evidence

  • PMID:37747940 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "Sulfate-coupled anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is performed by multicellular consortia"
  • PMID:19383036 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "Methane release from the oceans is controlled in large part by syntrophic interactions"

Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer

SYNTROPHY

Source Taxon: anaerobic methanotrophic archaea

Target Taxon: sulfate-reducing bacterial partners

Biological Processes:

  • interspecies interaction between organisms (GO:0044419)
Downstream Effects:
→ SRB sulfate reduction

Evidence

  • PMID:37747940 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) from ANME to the SRB outer membrane"

Associated Datasets

Dataset Type Repository Accession
ANME comparative metagenomics resource
Comparative genomic analysis of ANME genomes reconstructed from environmental metagenomes and flow-sorted syntrophic consortia. 		METAGENOME OTHER PMID:34986141

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Methane-rich anoxic marine sediment Gas-hydrate-rich and methane-seep sediments N/A
  • PMID:11034209 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)
    "abundant in gas-hydrate-rich sediments"
Sulfate availability Sulfate as terminal electron acceptor N/A
  • PMID:34986141 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulfate reduction"