How low can they go? Aerobic respiration by microorganisms under apparent anoxia

Oxygen (O2) is the ultimate oxidant on Earth and its respiration confers such an energetic advantage that microorganisms have evolved the capacity to scavenge O2 down to nanomolar concentrations. The respiration of O2 at extremely low levels is proving to be common to diverse microbial taxa, including organisms formerly considered strict anaerobes. Motivated by recent advances in O2 sensing and DNA/RNA sequencing technologies, we performed a systematic review of environmental metatranscriptomes revealing that microbial respiration of O2 at nanomolar concentrations is ubiquitous and drives microbial activity in seemingly anoxic aquatic habitats. These habitats were key to the early evolution of life and are projected to become more prevalent in the near future due to anthropogenic-driven environmental change. Here, we summarize our current understanding of aerobic microbial respiration under apparent anoxia, including novel processes, their underlying biochemical pathways, the involved microorganisms, and their environmental importance and evolutionary origin.