Newly Discovered Bacteria ‘Chonkus’ Offers Potential for Cleaning Up Carbon Dioxide

Scientists have discovered a type of cyanobacteria found in marine volcanic vents, or seeps, that could help capture carbon dioxide emissions. However, finding a way to engineer and harvest the bacteria at industrial rates will be needed to help realize its potential.

The bacteria, known as UTEX 3222 or “Chonkus,” is a strain of Cyanobacterium aponinum that was found to reach high-density growth in scientific experiments. Chonkus was taken from marine volcanic vents in the Mediterranean Sea that had an environment high in carbon dioxide. In their tests, scientists found that Chonkus grew quickly on a solid medium, in liquid and in the presence of conditions including high light, high salinity and high pH levels.

Researchers collect samples of seawater from a shallow volcanic seep off the coast of the island of Vulcano, where volcanic vents ensure the water has a high level of dissolved CO2. Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Like plants, Chonkus metabolizes carbon dioxide and sunlight to create food for itself, but cyanobacteria can absorb even more carbon dioxide than plants. As the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reported, cyanobacteria like Chonkus can fix carbon dioxide about twice as efficiently as plants, plus they have the benefit of rapid growth to further improve their carbon-sequestering properties.

Scientists have known about this potential, but the new study, which was published in the journal Applied and Industrial Microbiology, pinpoints a particular cyanobacteria that grows faster than other studied specimens. As Grist reported, Chonkus in particular presented rapid growth and density in lab settings that made it especially promising for absorbing more carbon dioxide.

“When you grow a culture of bacteria, it looks like broth and the bacteria are very dilute in the culture, but we found that Chonkus would settle into this stuff that is much more dense, like a green peanut butter,” said Max Schubert, a lead author of the study and a lead project scientists at Align to Innovate, as reported by Grist.

Chonkus also has an advantage of naturally separating from water, which sets it apart from other cyanobacteria and algae that have been considered for carbon sequestration. While this trait further improves its potential, scientists still need to figure out how to genetically modify the bacteria in order to use it for efficient carbon dioxide fixing.

But scientists have only scratched the surface on finding cyanobacteria like Chonkus to help with carbon sequestration, so they may be able to not only engineer Chonkus for carbon sequestration but find other organisms to help with this mission.

“There’s no question we’ll keep finding really, really interesting biology in these vents,” said Braden Tierney, a lead author of the study and a microbiologist and executive director of The Two Frontiers Project, as Grist reported. “I can’t stress enough that this was just the first expedition.”

In addition to publishing their findings on the carbon sequestration potential of Chonkus, the research team also told BBC that they are developing a “living database” of bacteria samples that will allow other scientists around the world to further study microbes, even after the expeditions are over.

“Compared to other [carbon capture] solutions, microbes are infinitely replicable,” Tierney told BBC. “While there is no silver bullet for tackling climate change, it is really exciting to find an organism that is a really high performing engine for carbon capture.”

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