{"id":5668,"date":"2025-09-03T09:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T08:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/?p=5668"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T08:04:20","slug":"new-coe-publication-in-nature-introduces-a-newly-discovered-microbial-energy-metabolism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/news\/new-coe-publication-in-nature-introduces-a-newly-discovered-microbial-energy-metabolism\/","title":{"rendered":"New CoE Publication in Nature introduces a newly discovered microbial energy metabolism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A study from the lab of CoE Key Researcher Alexander Loy<\/a> (Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science<\/a>, University of Vienna<\/a>), in collaboration with other colleagues from CeMESS and China, introduces a newly discovered microbial energy metabolism, shortly termed MISO.

The rapid reaction between sulfide and solid iron minerals has long been considered a purely abiotic process, playing a critical role in the global biogeochemical cycles of sulfur and iron. The team now shows that microorganisms in oxygen-free environments, such as marine sediments and terrestrial wetlands, can harness this reaction to generate energy for growth.

Unlike the abiotic reaction, MISO bacteria couple the reduction of iron(III) oxide with the oxidation of sulfide to directly produce sulfate, effectively bypassing intermediate steps in the sulfur cycle. Thus, MISO bacteria remove toxic sulfide and may help prevent the expansion of so-called \u201cdead zones\u201d in aquatic environments, while fixing carbon dioxide for growth, similar to plants.

The discovery of this previously unknown biological mechanism links sulfur, iron, and carbon cycling in oxygen-free environments and underscores the metabolic ingenuity of microorganisms and their profound influence on global biogeochemical processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link to publication<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Link to Uni Vienna Press Release<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

More on Alex Loy’s work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a recent study, Alex’s teams showed that sulfoquinovose – a sulfonated glucose found in dietary green plants and algae – is a promising prebiotic compound that selectively stimulates the activities of specific gut bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link to publication<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In a recent article in the Austrian Newspaper profil, Alex talks about the possible link between gut microbes and chronic pain (in German).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Link to Newspaper Article<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The team of CoE Key Researcher Alexander Loy shows that microorganisms can harness the reaction between sulfide and iron minerals to generate energy for growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":5671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"wp-custom-template-news-post-without-featured-image","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5668"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5695,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5668\/revisions\/5695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microplanet.at\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}