Spatial evidence of cryptic methane cycling and methylotrophic metabolisms along a land-ocean transect in a California coastal wetland

Methylotrophic methanogenesis in the sulfate reduction zone of coastal and marine sediments couples with anaerobic methane oxidation (AOM), forming the cryptic methane cycle. This study provides evidence of cryptic methane cycling in the sulfate-reducing zone across a land-ocean transect of four stations--two brackish, one marine, and one hypersaline--within the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (CSMR), Southern California, USA. The top 20 cm of sediment from the transect underwent geochemical and molecular (16S rRNA) analyses, in-vitro methanogenesis incubations, and radiotracer incubations using 35S-SO4, 14C-mono-methylamine, and 14C-CH4. Sediment methane concentrations were consistently low (3 to 28 {micro}M) except at the marine station, where they increased with depth (max 665 {micro}M). Methanogenesis from mono-methylamine was detected throughout the sediment at all stations with estimated rates ranging between 0.14 and 3.8 nmol cm-3 d-1. 16S rRNA analysis identified methanogenic archaea capable of producing methane from methylamines in sediment where methanogenesis was found to be active. Metabolomic analysis of porewater showed mono-methylamine was mostly undetectable (<3 {micro}M) or present in trace amounts (<10 {micro}M) suggesting rapid metabolic turnover. In-vitro methanogenesis incubations showed no linear methane buildup, suggesting a process limiting methane emissions. AOM activity, measured with 14C-CH4, overlapped with methanogenesis from mono-methylamine activity at all stations, with rates ranging from 0.03 to 19.4 nmol cm-3 d-1. Porewater geochemical analysis showed the CSMR sediments are rich in sulfate and iron. Porewater sulfate concentrations (9-91 mM) were non-limiting across the transect, which support members of sulfate-reducing bacteria and likely responsible for sulfate reduction activity (1.5-2,506 nmol cm-3 d-1) at all stations in the CSMR. Porewater sulfide and iron (II) profiles indicated that the sediment transitioned from a predominantly iron-reducing environment at the two brackish stations to a predominantly sulfate-reducing environment at the marine and hypersaline station. AOM activity was likely coupled to sulfate and possibly iron reduction, coinciding with the presence of anaerobic methanotrophs and bacteria involved in these reductions. 16S rRNA analysis identified anaerobic methanotrophs at the marine and hypersaline stations, where they coexisted with putative methanogens, suggesting both groups, or methanogens alone, may be involved in cryptic methane cycling, preventing significant methane buildup in the sulfate-reducing zone. Differences in rate constants from 14C radiotracer incubations suggest a non-methanogenic process oxidizing mono-methylamine to inorganic carbon, likely mediated by sulfate-reducing bacteria. Understanding the potential competition of sulfate reducers with methanogens for mono-methylamine needs further investigation as it might be another important process responsible for low methane emissions in salt marshes.