A view of the Guaymas Basin seafloor taken from Alvin, a submersible research vessel used by the team.

(Brett Baker/University of Texas)

At a Glance

Nearly two dozen microbes were found to usehydrocarbons such as methane and butaneas energy sources.The microbes discovered are genetically different from any others previously studied.

Scientists have discovered deep-sea microbes that have the ability to gobbleup greenhouse gases and oil spills.

Nearly two dozen of these microbes discovered some 6,500 feet below the surface of the Pacific Oceanusehydrocarbons, including methane and butane, as energy sources , according to research publishedinNature Communicationsthis week.

Researchers from the University of Texas say they believe thenewly identified bacteria could be helping to limit the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They also say the bacteria might be developed for future usein consuming greenhouse gases and cleaning up oil spills.

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The microbes discovered are genetically different from any others previously studied andwere found in the "" of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California, according to a press release.

"This shows the deep oceans contain expansive unexplored biodiversity, and microscopic organisms there are capable of degrading oil and other harmful chemicals," Brett Baker, an assistant professor of marine science at the University of Texas in Austin and an author of the study, said in a press release. "Beneath the ocean floor huge reservoirs of hydrocarbon gases – including methane, propane, butane and others – exist now, and these microbes prevent greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere."

The samples of sediment containing the microbes were collected from the seafloor using the Alvin submersible, the same sub that located the Titanic in the North Atlantic in 1986.

The team will continue its search in the area for other microbes that could conceivably be cultured to clean up oil spills and consume greenhouse gases.

"We think that this is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of diversity in the Guaymas Basin," said Baker. "So, we’re doing a lot more DNA sequencing to try to get a handle on how much more there is. This paper is really just our first hint at what these things are and what they are doing."