Roland Hatzenpichler
@environmicrobio
archaea, methane, microbial ecophysiology, single cell activity, next generation physiology & boardgames / for evidence-based decision-making / I don’t mince words / posts reflect personal views / www.environmental-microbiology.com
For printing at home use this file - all cards correctly sized in ppt format: tinyurl.com/yc6h7f5b Just print double-sided
Arguably, the most important card in my TM expansion will replace the “Archaebacteria” card in the original game.
Started working on a microbiology - boardgame crossover project. The goal is to have a thematic, scientifically accurate microbiology-theme expansion for my favorite boardgame, Terraforming Mars, later this year.
The lab will have 2 talks and 2 posters at ISME + 2 talks by collaborators/former lab members. Topics are methanogenesis/biogeochemical cycles, method development (Raman), biogeography (Yellowstone hot springs), and new enzymes of thermophiles.
It’s clear that methanogen diversity and methane emissions from the GSL have been severely understudied and underestimated and that emissions will only worsen during lake drying. We hope to soon change that! Our research was funded by the NASA Exobiology (to Tim McDermott) and DOE BER (me) programs.
We named this archaeon in honor of Maurice Hilleman (1919-2005), a microbiologist and vaccinologist who graduated from Montana State University. Over the course of his career, he developed over 40 vaccines, including 8 that are recommended for children in the USA. His vaccines
and in situ methane flux measurements revealed extremely high and variable methane flux. Our results show that the novel methanogen, Ca. M. hillemani, is active when challenged with environmentally relevant stressors and contributes to the methane flux emanating from the GSL.
In contrast, Ca. M. hillemani prioritizes trace metal uptake and immune functions in response to the presence of the co-enriched sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovermiculus. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of GSL shore soils demonstrated the presence of Ca. M. hillemani, along other methanogens,
when exposed to environmental stressors: low salt, high salt, and the presence of oxygen, a gas toxic to most methanogens. We demonstrate that Ca. M. hillemani does not increase expression of energy-conservation or osmo-tolerance proteins when challenged with salinity or oxygen.
In this study, we cultured a novel methanogen, for which we propose the name Candidatus Methanohalophilus hillemani, from the GSL at a time when its salinity reached a historical high. We obtained a complete, circular genome from this archaeon and study how it changes protein expression
The Great Salt Lake (GSL, Utah, USA) is an environment that has been heavily impacted by human activity and is an important local source of methane emissions. It has more than doubled its salt concentration since the last methanogenic archaeon was cultured from it in 1985.
we improve our understanding of carbon transformations and the microbial ecology of the deep marine biosphere, down to a depth of 154 meters below the seafloor. Our findings emphasize the importance of heterotrophic microbes and the carbon-degrading metabolisms they use to survive extreme conditions
The marine deep biosphere spans the entire global ocean and offers a wide range of environmental conditions for microbes to flourish. However, the identities and metabolic functions of these microbial populations are not well understood. In this study, we investigated translationally active
New paper by former postdoc Andrew Montgomery and grad student Sylvia Nupp out in ISME Comm @isme-microbes.bsky.social. Funded by the US NSF. academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
And he was one of three I cited in my PhD thesis (which I dedicated to the scientific idea).
Added @jjmarlow.bsky.social new book to my pile of shame/opportunity (close to the top)!
Btw my lab’s Asgard culture is called Skadiarchaeum cthulhuensis.
and in situ methane flux measurements revealed extremely high and variable methane flux. Our results show that the novel methanogen, Ca. M. hillemani, is active when challenged with environmentally relevant stressors and contributes to the methane flux emanating from the GSL.
when exposed to environmental stressors: low salt, high salt, and the presence of oxygen, a gas toxic to most methanogens. We demonstrate that Ca. M. hillemani does not increase expression of energy-conservation or osmo-tolerance proteins when challenged with salinity or oxygen.
New preprint: “Proteomic stress response by a novel methanogen enriched from the Great Salt Lake”, first author William Christian. TLDR: we enriched a novel, euryarchaeotal, methyl-dismutating methanogen that grows at 16% salinity. biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.29.702513v2 🧵 🦠 #microsky
Looking forward to continuing to working with Florian on visualizing our Asgard archaeon 'Skadiarchaeum cthulhuensis'!
These ecosystems exhibit micro to millimolar levels of methylated substrates that could fuel methanogenesis. Importantly, standing concentrations are not representative of flux rates - we need to improve our understanding of substrate-specific methanogenesis rates!
We screened all publicly available, unrestricted metagenome and metatranscriptome datatsets on IMG/M (12 Tb) and the SRA (1.75 Pb). This revealed the presence of several lineages of methyl coenzyme M reductase (mcr) encoding Thermoproteota in anoxic ecosystems: wetlands, wastewater, sediments etc.
New paper out in Current Opinion in Microbiology: MCR-encoding (potentially methanogenic) Thermoproteota are widespread and transcriptionally active in diverse anoxic ecosystems! @dr-zj.bsky.social, Matthew Kellom & @emileyeloe-fadrosh.bsky.social. Funded by DOE BER program. tinyurl.com/2fsyxswj 🦠🧪
we improve our understanding of carbon transformations and the microbial ecology of the deep biosphere, down to a depth of 154 meters below the seafloor. Our findings emphasize the ecological significance of heterotrophic microbes and the C-degrading metabolisms they use to
elucidated their metabolic activity in hydrothermally impacted low-biomass subsurface marine sediments. By combining activity measurements (ex situ bioorthogonal labeling of protein-synthesizing cells), 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of active (FACS-sorted) cells, and metagenomics data,
The marine deep biosphere spans the global ocean & offers a wide range of environmental conditions for microbes to flourish. However, the identities & metabolic functions of these populations are not well understood. In this study, we investigated translationally active microbial communities and