Projects per year
Abstract
The reductive acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) pathway, whereby carbon dioxide is sequentially reduced to acetyl-CoA via coenzyme-bound C1 intermediates, is the only autotrophic pathway that can at the same time be the means for energy conservation. A conceptually similar metabolism and a key process in the global carbon cycle is methanogenesis, the biogenic formation of methane. All known methanogenic archaea depend on methanogenesis to sustain growth and use the reductive acetyl-CoA pathway for autotrophic carbon fixation. Here, we converted a methanogen into an acetogen and show that Methanosarcina acetivorans can dispense with methanogenesis for energy conservation completely. By targeted disruption of the methanogenic pathway, followed by adaptive evolution, a strain was created that sustained growth via carbon monoxide–dependent acetogenesis. A minute flux (less than 0.2% of the carbon monoxide consumed) through the methane-liberating reaction remained essential, indicating that currently living methanogens utilize metabolites of this reaction also for anabolic purposes. These results suggest that the metabolic flexibility of methanogenic archaea might be much greater than currently known. Also, our ability to deconstruct a methanogen into an acetogen by merely removing cellular functions provides experimental support for the notion that methanogenesis could have evolved from the reductive acetyl-coenzyme A pathway.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2113853119 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 119 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 6 Jan 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 Jan 2022 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Acetogenic
- Acetyl-CoA pathway
- Methanogenic
- Methanosarcina
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Dive into the research topics of 'Deconstructing Methanosarcina acetivorans into an acetogenic archaeon'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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BioEle: Biochemical interconversion of alkanes to CO2 and electricity
Scheller, S. (Principal investigator), Adlung, N. (Project Member), Nguyen, T. (Project Member), Zhu, P. (Project Member), Jäger, V. (Project Member), Laird, M. (Project Member) & de Dios Mateos, E. (Project Member)
01/09/2019 → 31/08/2023
Project: Academy of Finland: Other research funding
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Genomic Engineering of Methanorsarcina activorans to convert methane to elictricity
Adlung, N. (Principal investigator)
01/06/2019 → 31/10/2021
Project: Other external funding: Other foreign funding