Enigmatic DNA dubbed ‘Borgs’ discovered in methane-metabolising microbes
The large nucleic acid structures may help bacteria play a role in regulating global methane
Large and unusual DNA entities have been discovered coexisting in methane-eating microbes that may play a role in global greenhouse gas emissions.
They possess some of their host microbe’s genes, leading the team to dub them ‘Borgs’ after the Star Trek villains that absorb the biology and knowledge of other organisms. Nineteen distinct Borgs were identified in anaerobic soil-dwelling archaea and some of them seem to boost the microbe’s methane metabolism.