Microorganisms have evolved unique survival strategies and carbon transformation capabilities in the ultra-extreme environment of the deep Southern Ocean (high pressure, low temperature, no light, etc.). Under the action of physical and chemical processes, they dominate the formation of the unique biogeochemical cycle in the Southern Ocean. Based on deep-sea environment simulation technology, the research team has found that microorganisms adapted to the extreme environment of the Southern Ocean will induce oxygen stress under deep-sea high-pressure conditions, change the degree of intracellular oxidation, resulting in incomplete oxidation of organic matter, instead of directly generating CO₂. This reduces the greenhouse effect and regulates climate change. In addition, the physiological and biochemical metabolic dynamic processes of microorganisms are regulated by deep-sea high pressure. The dynamic changes of the microbial community on sinking particulate organic matter (the core of the marine biological carbon pump) are the key to regulating the transfer of carbon to the deep sea and controlling the storage time of carbon in the deep sea, which has a significant impact on global climate regulation.

The above work was supported by the Shanghai Special Zone for Basic Research of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (21TQ1400201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42122043, 42141003, 92251303), and the Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City Science and Technology Innovation Joint Project of the Hainan Provincial Science and Technology Plan (2021CXLH0015). The relevant results were published in journals such as Applied and Environmental Microbiology.