Can bugs save the planet?

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 29/09/2004 | Roger Highfield

[ckilmer]

Can bugs save the planet? (Filed: 29/09/2004)

A project to combat climate change is seeking to enhance the life-giving properties of the Earth's smallest creatures. Roger Highfield reports

The Earth's atmosphere is so polluted that the planet is dying. But scientists around the world hatch a plan, one that offers a tantalising last-ditch hope: they ask for vast amounts of funding so that they can enlist some of the smallest creatures to renew the atmosphere and save all of humanity.

Prochlorococcus marinus: the most abundant photosynthetic organism in the oceans

The proposal for a Hollywood sci-fi movie? No. This idea is under serious discussion. The US has already spent around $100 million to curb climate change by giving the Earth a new set of "lungs".

The lungs would consist of vast colonies of bacteria and other microbes that are able to scrub the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. As a bonus, they may even convert the pollutants to ethanol, which can be used as a fuel.

Last year, Spencer Abraham, the US Secretary of Energy, said he envisaged "a colony of specially designed microbes living within the emission-control system of a coal-fired plant, consuming its pollution and its carbon dioxide".

Others go even further. Dr Ari Patrinos, director of the US Department of Energy's biological and environmental research programme, is confident that microbes – and their extraordinary biochemistry – are up to the job of altering the atmosphere of the planet.

After all, we owe the oxygen in the air we breathe to a microbial pollution incident more than two billion years ago. These microbes had to dump oxygen to avoid being poisoned so this "oxygen waste" became part of our atmosphere. "Microbes have perfected many processes and, compared with them, we are neophytes," said Dr Patrinos. "They are marvels of efficiency."

War on global warming: US scientists are working to give the earth a new set of 'lungs'

After four billion years of evolution, microbes now make up 60 per cent of the mass of living material on the planet. Each of us relies on several pounds - consisting of many thousands of species - in our gut to digest food. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide thanks to microbial colonies. The same goes for the oceans, said Dr Patrinos.

He concedes that the idea of persuading the planet's microbial lungs to take deeper breaths sounds "too science fiction and far- fetched". But Dr Patrinos stresses that the current focus of the "Genomes to Life" project is in basic research: to understand how living things manage their astonishing metabolic feats.

Earlier this year, the US DoE brought together 80 scientists to discuss the plan, the outline of which is straightforward. Read the entire genetic codes - genomes - of microbes, trees and thousands of other creatures that deal with pollution, whether carbon dioxide, radionuclides or heavy metals. Then see if there is a way to harness them or their clever chemistry in clean-ups or even design one from scratch.

One of those present at the Washington meeting was Prof Jeremy Nicholson of Imperial College London, an expert at teasing apart the complex interactions between communities of cells. He felt as if he was "part of a science-fiction movie", but added it was "a most exciting and challenging scientific experience".

Microbe: Syenchoccus, plankton

"US scientists have probably hit on an idea that may just be practical," he said. Although many believe that the Kyoto agreement to curb greenhouse gases is a start, there is scepticism about it preventing global warming, given rising fossil fuel use by developing countries.

Time is now running out. "Some US scientists think we may have only about 30-40 years to find ways to develop a practical solution – otherwise we could have a catastrophic climate within a few generations beyond," said Prof Nicholson.

Many creatures that could curb climate change are under study. Some are involved in cycling of the greenhouse gas methane. Last week saw the publication of the first complete genetic code of Methylococcus capsulatus by Dr Naomi Ward of the Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, Maryland, in the journal PLoS Biology.

Many others cycle carbon, such as Rhodopseudomonas palustris, a soil bug that converts carbon dioxide into cell material, nitrogen gas into ammonia and can make hydrogen. Other targets of the project are Nitrosomonas europaea and Nostoc punctiforme, which also take part in nitrogen fixation.

Of the many marine microbes, a diatom called Thalassiosira pseudonana plays a role in transferring carbon to the ocean depths. Others of interest include Prochlorococcus marinus, the most abundant photosynthetic organism in the oceans.

A study of this microbe by Prof Jim Barber at Imperial College London is helping to show how it influences carbon dioxide levels. "What factors influence this bacterium's ability to regulate carbon dioxide is crucial for humans' continued survival," he said.

And there is interest in the genetic codes of creatures that play host to the microbes. Dr Patrinos was particularly proud to announce that his team had cracked another genome, that of the poplar tree.

"Understanding the genetics of the poplar will help us focus on the microbial communities around its roots in its rhizosphere," he said. This understanding could help them to absorb more carbon. "A few small percentage improvements in the storage of carbon in the roots of these plants can make a huge dent in the carbon loading in the atmosphere because this plant is so ubiquitous."

Perhaps the most extraordinary project of all being backed by Dr Patrinos is being led by Dr Craig Venter, the controversial former head of the private effort to read the human genetic code (notably his own) along with other species (such as his poodle, Shadow).

At the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives, Rockville, Maryland, Dr Venter has been working on the creation of a microbe with the minimum number of genes to survive, which could lead to the creation of artificial organisms to turn carbon dioxide to ethanol, or help make hydrogen fuel.

An effort to re-engineer the way that the Earth cycles greenhouse gases "could be the world's most ambitious and scary science project – literally to re-terraform our planet's atmosphere, using a giant microbial supercolony", said Prof Nicholson. The ultimate projected cost could be 100 times greater than that involved in putting man on the Moon.

The lungs might have to be capable of capturing from the atmosphere 300 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, much more than could be achieved with Kyoto. "You might need billions of tons of bugs to do this," said Prof Nicholson.

"The question of what will happen to all this 'fixed' carbon is unclear," he added. "At this scale, you would probably need to use communities of self-regulating, interacting organisms, as you could not maintain a monoculture on this vast scale for very long – and, again, this poses huge technical problems."

The communities that make up the lungs could be concentrated in mines, deep aquifers or deserts. Perhaps soil microbes could be persuaded to hang on to more carbon. Ditto those in the world's oceans.

There are concerns that this work will pave the way to a vast, uncontrolled experiment with GM microbes. Dr Patrinos said: "We may have contemplated something like that in the early days, but find that nature is already doing certain things very well, thank you very much, and it is just a matter of helping her along without necessarily manipulating her genetically. That is my conviction.

"Regardless of the endless wrangling over Kyoto, nobody will dispute the need for better technology," he said. The Genomes to Life programme "is a no brainer".

The initiative, though potentially useful, could divert resources from more pressing issues, commented Dr Keith Tovey, a carbon reduction expert at the University of East Anglia. "I would say it would take 20 years or more before this would become viable and make the substantive reductions in carbon dioxide needed," said Dr Tovey.

"It is a high-tech fix, which is diverting us away from some of the hard issues we ought to be addressing now, such as energy conservation and deploying renewables."

Prof Nicholson is worried about diversions of a different kind. If America launches a vast programme in his field, it could destabilise related research in Europe: "We might see a brain drain and the direct commercial spin-offs to the US as a result of these programmes will almost certainly be counted in billions or even trillions of dollars during the next century – this is where big investment in the science of very small things could have very big rewards, as well as saving the planet."

[devane617]

Ants are aliens that have traveled back in time out of necessity -- food, water, air, etc.

Can they save the planet? Yes, if they wish.

[Rebelbase]

Reads like the script for a Sci Fi movie. I'd rather see research into the destruction of underwear gnomes which frequently impact my and my family's lives.

[goodnesswins]

I'm looking for the "sock thiefs" first!

[devane617]

"...underwear gnomes which frequently impact my and my family's lives."

I had the exact problem with socks. I quit wearing them and that solved the problem.

[N. Theknow]

Can Bugs save the planet?

Only if he can steal the Illudium Q36 Explosive Space Modulator from Marvin Martian.

[akorahil]

The Earth's atmosphere is so polluted that the planet is dying.

I stopped reading here.

[ckilmer]

yes there is a considerable amount of eco puke in the article.

However, some of the bugs they talk about can produce hydrogen and desalinized water very cheaply. These are currently stored in Maryland by the guy who took on the feds in the human genome project.

He went down to the saragasso sea and created brought back a thousands of heretofor unknown species of bacteria. He's currently repeating the process in seas around the world.

Most of the big chemical companies now have cottege units that create chemicals using bacteria of one stripe or another.

In time this will be a very big business with all kinds of applications.

[Go_Raiders]

I think we need to start a Manhattan Project to isolate Mentholatum Fosdic, the Shaving Cream Atom.

I think we can count on Duck Dodgers (in the 24th and a half century) to lead this task force....

[TheDon]

The Earth's atmosphere is so polluted that the planet is dying.

What an arrogant statement. This planet has gone downhill ever since the introduction of life. < /sarcasm >

[NavyCanDo]

SAVE THE PLANET? YES THEY CAN!

Haven't you ever read a SPIDERMAN comic?

[ckilmer]

I don't think the planet needs saving but I do think it would be a good idea to have sources of cheap water and energy.

The bugs might be able to do the heavy lifting.

[KarlInOhio]

The Earth's atmosphere is so polluted that the planet is dying.

I'm not that old but I remember the brown nasty haze over cities whenever the weather got hot. Those days are few and far between now (except for LA, of course). Things are much cleaner now than they used to be.

Even if global warming were true, that would mean that colder regions would have longer growing seasons. The earth would be more alive than ever.

[ckilmer]

well there was a spate of articles a couple of days ago about the rate at which some glaciers were melting in the south poles. Scientists worry that If the south pole glaciers melt they'll raise water levels around the world by 10-15 feet or enough to drown most of the coastal cities around the world. Not a biggie imho if before then hydrogen energy costs are driven down to zilch and water desalination costs are driven down to zilch. Because then you could turn all the deserts of the world green. just a thought.

[Cicero]

Very strange and distorted article. I happened to read an article about the woman scientist who discovered these tiny creatures. She works at the Woods Hole lab in Massachusetts.

She quite rightly points out that it would be totally stupid to mess with such a fundamental aspect of the environment which wasn't even discovered until a few years ago.

Nature is self-balancing. Things fluctuate up and down and even out. Species die and other species move into their places. You don't mess with nature like this without usually doing more harm than good.

I suppose nobody mentioned the woman who made the original discovery because she argues that it would be stupid to meddle like this. But there's big money to be made through meddling. Government grants. New research ships and plants. You name it.

[NewJerseyJoe]

Where's the kaboom?

[ckilmer]

you're probably right.

but if a snake can talk then anything is possible for good or ill.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

There is a song about what you just wrote. I think it goes like:

I know a girl who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly perhaps she'll die.

I know a girl who swallowed a spider to catch the fly . . . .