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IMAGE: Tengchong Yunnan hot springs in China, where some of the newly described Brockarchaeota were collected. view more
Credit: Jian-Yu Jiao/Sun Yat-Sen University
The tree of life just got a little bigger: A team of scientists from the U.S. and China has identified an entirely new group of microbes quietly living in hot springs, geothermal systems and hydrothermal sediments around the world. The microbes appear to be playing an important role in the global carbon cycle by helping break down decaying plants without producing the greenhouse gas methane. Climate scientists should take these new microbes into account in their models to more accurately understand how they will impact climate change, said Brett Baker, assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin s Marine Science Institute who led the research published April 23 in