Microbial methane production from calcium carbonate at moderately alkaline pH

Microbial methane production from calcium carbonate at moderately alkaline pH | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Microbial methane production from calcium carbonate at moderately alkaline pH Nicole Fiore, Anthony Kohtz, Daniel Miller, Sanjay Antony-Babu, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4790757/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Carbonate minerals are considered a metastable carbon reservoir under alkaline conditions. Here we demonstrate the use of calcium carbonate as a sole inorganic carbon source at moderately alkaline pH for a methanogenic microbial community enriched from alkaline, saline wetland soil. In reactors amended with calcium carbonate as the sole source of inorganic carbon, concentrations of methane and aqueous calcium increased concurrent with headspace hydrogen depletion. Cells were observed in association with the carbonate mineral matrix via coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering and two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy. Genome-resolved metagenomics of the enrichment community confirmed the presence of a methanogen ( Methanobacterium sp.) with the metabolic potential for hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis in addition to five bacterial community members. These results demonstrate that carbonate minerals can serve as an inorganic carbon source for hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, leading to mineral dissolution under stable alkaline conditions. As such, hydrogenotrophic methanogens may impact carbon biogeochemistry and carbonate mineral stability in environmental systems. Earth and environmental sciences/Biogeochemistry/Carbon cycle Biological sciences/Microbiology/Environmental microbiology/Soil microbiology Biological sciences/Microbiology/Archaea Biological sciences/Microbiology/Microbial genetics/Archaeal genes Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. N.R.B. has disclosed a significant financial interest in RollingCircle Biotech, LLC and Molecular Trait Evolution, Inc. Other authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files supplementarydata1.xlsx Supplementary Data 1 fioreetal2024supplementary.pdf supplementaryfile1.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Earth & Environment → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4790757","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":335150617,"identity":"babd18bb-8943-4b85-8a85-942582a1e026","order_by":0,"name":"Nicole Fiore","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8860-5770","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nicole","middleName":"","lastName":"Fiore","suffix":""},{"id":335150618,"identity":"dc73dada-fe04-402a-8aa3-769b4a655a8c","order_by":1,"name":"Anthony 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