The linkage between methane production activity and prokaryotic community structure in the soil within a shale-gas field in China

Soil samples from the Fulin shale-gas field. The shale gas is natural gas extracted from shale formations with methane as the main component. Methanogens are a class of archaea that converts inorganic or organic compounds into methane and carbon dioxide by anaerobic fermentation. Methanogens are the last member of the anaerobic fermentation process, and methane biosynthesis is a key chain of carbon cycling in nature. Due to the important role of methanogens in organic waste treatment, biogas fermentation, organic matter decomposition and utilization in animal rumen, and methane is the second largest greenhouse gas causing global warming, the mechanism of methanogens and methane production Has received much attention.