Seminar: Colin Murrell

The microbial ecology of isoprene-degrading bacteria

Prof. Colin Murrell (University of East Anglia, UK) 

Isoprene is a climate-active, organic compound that is released into the atmosphere in similar quantities to that of methane, making it one of the most abundant trace volatiles. Large amounts of isoprene are produced by trees but also by microbes, including algae in the marine environment. Isoprene plays an important role in plant physiology and atmospheric photochemistry. We have been studying bacteria that grow on isoprene and their regulation using transcriptomics and molecular genetics. Functional gene probing, DNA-stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) and metagenomics experiments reveal that isoprene-degrading bacteria are widespread in soils, leaf surfaces and estuarine sediments and that they are likely to play a major role in the metabolism of isoprene before it escapes to the atmosphere.