Strange libraries of supplementary genes nicknamed "Borg" DNA appear to boost the microbes that possess them and give them an ability to metabolize materials in their environment faster than their competitors.
Researchers hope to find new ways of engineering life to take a bite out of methane emissions by learning more about how organisms use extrachromosomal packets of information.
In the wake of a study publicized last year, researchers have continued to analyze the diversity of sequence methane-munching microbes store in these unusual genetic depositaries in an effort to learn more about the evolution of life.
The Star Trek aliens that took other beings into a hive mind were named after the mysterious DNA elements that absorb beneficial genes from many different organisms over a long period of time.
The genetic Borgs were discovered in a methane- consuming microbe called Methanoperedens, and it appears they've been able to maximize their ability to soak up methane.
Kenneth Williams is an environmental scientist from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Adding genetic elements that can consume methane in parallel with genetic elements that give the cell higher capacity will increase the cell's capacity.
If you will, it creates a condition for consuming methane on steroids.
Borgs are thought to be a type of DNA. These packets of genetic material exist outside the chromosomes and are endowed with tools that allow genes to be integrated.
Borgs have a linear structure. They are also longer than usual. The team discovered 19 distinct Borg ECEs in samples taken from underground soil.
Borgs match a lot of the methane- metabolism genes found in Methanoperedens. If a Borg's genes are expressed in a cell, they can eat methane on their own.
The scientists think that Borgs may be leftover fragments of a wide range of microbes. Borgs act as stores for genes that are only needed at certain times, such as when there is a lot of methane.
The presence of Borgs would allow some Methanoperedens microbes to go past their normal methane consumption ability. There's still a lot to think about.
There is evidence that different types of Borgs can be found in the same cell. It's possible that Borgs could be spreading genes.
Borgs can affect both biological and geological processes, and the researchers are studying how Borgs can affect both processes.
One day, Borg-packed microbes could be engineered to make a sizeable dent in annual emissions of methane, a gas that is currently estimated to account for about 30 percent of human-driven global emissions.
To uncover more about how Borgs work, and to trace back a history that could last billions of years, field work is being done in conjunction with lab analysis.
The researchers wrote in their paper that Borgs may have far-reaching biogeochemical consequences with important and unforeseen climate implications.
The research was published in a journal.
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