Dr. Joel Kostka’s research group has a paper soon to be published in the International Society for Microbial Ecology journal entitled “Metabolic potential of fatty acid oxidation and anaerobic respiration by abundant members of Thaumarchaeota and Thermoplasmata in deep anoxic peat”. It is an important contribution because archaea are thought to play a key role in the microbial carbon cycle of peatlands, which store close to one-third of all soil carbon.  One reviewer commented, "The value of this communication is immense for the understanding of bioactive carbon sequestration as the representatives of both phyla account for the vast majority of the microbial community in peat bogs."

They studied archaea that are very abundant in global soils as well as those of peatlands.  In spite of their abundance on a global scale, the metabolism of archaea is not understand nor is their role in the carbon cycle because none of these organisms has been cultivated.  This paper uses a metagenomic approach to determine the metabolic potential of these archaea which could play a key role in the response of peat microbial communities to climate change.  Samples were collected at the Marcell Experimental Forest in northern Minnesota, where the DOE is carrying out a large scale climate manipulation study.  SPRUCE site.