Archaebacteria: Allies in carbon capture and the fight against climate change

Villalobos M.; Ramírez X.; Medina E.; Vásquez A.; Caridad D. · South sustainability (2025) · DOI: 10.21142/ss-0601-2025-e124

Resumen

The carbon cycle is essential for environmental balance and climate change mitigation, global challenges marked by rising levels of atmospheric CO₂ and its uptake by the world’s oceans, which causes acidification and disrupts biogeochemical cycles. In this context, archaea, particularly the Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota groups, play a crucial role in carbon regulation and ammonia oxidation. In anoxic environments, methanotrophic and methanogenic archaea, such as Methanosarcinales, contribute to the regulation of greenhouse gases, such as methane, while others, such as Bathyarchaeota, are involved in acetogenesis. This body of knowledge, combined with the development of remediation technologies using nanoparticles, highlights the potential of archaea in the mitigation of climate change, underscoring the urgent need for research that assesses their diversity and functional roles within Peruvian marine ecosystems, as well as for the implementation of bioengineering pilot projects focused on their application. © Los autores, 2025.

Instituciones: Universidad Científica del Sur