Researchers find ‘methane-eating’ bacteria in Lonar crater

In a statement issued here,Shouche said that they believe their findings could be useful in preventing the melting of polar ice caps and surges in global sea-levels. Methane is the second major green-house gas in the atmosphere and is at least 25 times more potent than carbon-dioxide in causing global warming and climate change.

Interestingly,the researchers could detect the presence of several active ‘methane-eating’ bacteria in their experiments with

Lonar Lake samples. The Lonar crater,situated in Buldana district of Maharashtra state,has several stunning similarities to craters on

Mars and the Moon and is therefore,considered as a ‘planetary gem’ by geologists worldwide.

Most of the central floor of the crater is currently occupied by an unusual lake of extreme pH and moderate salinity.

The investigators made use of cutting-edge microbiology tools such as stable-isotope probing (SIP) to track the active bacterial populations participating in the cycling of methane and associated compounds in the Lonar crater lake.

A considerable fraction of identified organisms have not been ever reported to ‘eat methane’ in any other part of the world.

These ‘methane-eaters’ are likely to be responsible for keeping natural methane emissions much lower than they would otherwise be.

These findings are also important from the perspective of possibility of life on other planets like Mars and methane-rich Titan because understanding of methane utilisation in high pH,high salt conditions of Lonar lake makes it possible to verify the existence of such phenomena in other extreme environments also.