Nicknamed DNA “borgs”, the unique combinations of complementary genes seem to charge their microbes, giving them the unique ability to metabolize substances in their environment faster than their competitors. .
By learning more about how organisms use these unusual extrachromosomal bundles of information, researchers hope to find new ways to engineer life to significantly eliminate emissions of methane.
Following a study published last year, researchers have continued to analyze the diversity of methane-fed microbe arrays in these unusual genetic stores to learn more about the evolution of life.
Named after the “Star Trek” aliens who swallow other creatures into a collective cell brain, this mysterious element of DNA performs a similar trick by absorbing useful genes from many others different organisms for a long time.
These genes were discovered in a methane-consuming microbe called Methanoperedens, and they seem to have evolved over thousands of years to increase an organism’s ability to absorb methane.
“Imagine a single cell capable of consuming methane,” said ecologist Kenneth Williams of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, adding: the cell has more capacity.”
Scientists believe that Borgs are a form of DNA known as an extrachromosomal element (ECE). These bundles of genetic material reside outside an organism’s chromosomes and are equipped with tools that allow for genetic representation.
Unlike other ECEs, the Borg are linear rather than circular. Also longer than usual. In samples from subterranean soils, aquifers and river beds, the team discovered 19 different Borgs ECEs, including four complete sequences.
Thanks to advanced genome analysis, it was found that Borgs matched most of the methane metabolism genes in Methanoperedens. In fact, some Borg have all the necessary mechanisms to consume methane on their own, provided they are inside a cell that can express the Borg genes.
Scientists hypothesize that while not all Methanoperedens microbes contain Borgs, Borgs may be leftover fragments from different types of microbes that Methanoperedens have absorbed. One explanation for this is that Borgs act as a repository for metabolic genes that are only needed at certain times—for example, when there’s a lot of methane around.
This means that some Methanoperedens microbes can exceed their natural ability to consume methane, thanks to the presence of the Borg. And there is still much to be unraveled about these amazing pieces of DNA.
“There is evidence that different Borg species sometimes coexist in the same Methanopredens host cell,” said ecologist Jillian Banfield of the University of California at Berkeley.
Researchers are now looking more closely at how Borgs can affect biological (in the way cells develop) and geological (in the way extra methane is extracted from the surrounding environment) processes.
Fieldwork is being conducted alongside laboratory tests to learn more about how these unusual Borg work and to trace a history that may go back billions of years.
The research was published in the journal Nature.
Source: Arabic RT
