Molecular hydrogen in seawater supports growth of diverse marine bacteria

Molecular hydrogen (H(2)) is an abundant and readily accessible energy source in marine systems, but it remains unknown whether marine microbial communities consume this gas. Here we use a suite of approaches to show that marine bacteria consume H(2) to support growth. Genes for H(2)-uptake hydrogenases are prevalent in global ocean metagenomes, highly expressed in metatranscriptomes and found across eight bacterial phyla. Capacity for H(2) oxidation increases with depth and decreases with oxygen concentration, suggesting that H(2) is important in environments with low primary production. Biogeochemical measurements of tropical, temperate and subantarctic waters, and axenic cultures show that marine microbes consume H(2) supplied at environmentally relevant concentrations, yielding enough cell-specific power to support growth in bacteria with low energy requirements. Conversely, our results indicate that oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) primarily supports survival. Altogether, H(2) is a notable energy source for marine bacteria and may influence oceanic ecology and biogeochemistry.