Carbon metabolic versatility underpins Bathyarchaeia ecological significance across the global deep subsurface.

ABSTRACT: Bathyarchaeia, among the most ancient and abundant microbial lineages on Earth, dominate diverse anoxic subsurface ecosystems and play a pivotal role in global carbon cycling. This review synthesizes current understanding of their physiological, metabolic, and evolutionary foundations underlying their ecological significance and environmental effects over geological timescales. Despite their global distribution in the deep biosphere, the phylogenetic diversity and total cellular abundance of Bathyarchaeia remain substantially underestimated. As uncultivated metabolic generalists, Bathyarchaeia exhibit remarkable metabolic versatility, including anaerobic organic degradation, dark carbon fixation, and putative methane and alkane metabolism. Specifically, genus Baizosediminiarchaeum has been

SUBMITTER: Hou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12694404 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature