Hydrogen for dinner

摘要

Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to develop hydrogen as an energy source, with one strategy being to harness the activity of hydrogen-metabolizing microorganisms. On page 176 of this issue, Petersen et al.~1 report that humans are not the first animals to use such a strategy: at sea-floor hydrothermal vents, mussels bathed in hydrogen-rich fluids thrive by supporting and harvesting an internal population of hydrogen-consuming bacteria. Hydrogen is therefore the first chemical energy source for microbe-animal symbiosis to have been discovered in 25 years, and joins hydrogen sulphide and methane on the short menu of compounds used to fuel organisms at hydrothermal vents.