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The energy metabolism of Methanomicrococcus blatticola: physiological and biochemical aspects

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Abstract

Methanomicrococcus blatticola, a methanogenic archaeon isolated from the cockroach Periplaneta americana, is specialised in methane formation by the hydrogen-dependent reduction of methanol, monomethyl-, dimethyl- or trimethylamine. Experiments with resting cells demonstrated that the capability to utilise the methylated one-carbon compounds was growth substrate dependent. Methanol-grown cells were unable of methylamine conversion, while cells cultured on one of the methylated amines did not metabolise methanol. Unlike trimethylamine, monomethyl- and dimethylamine metabolism appeared to be co-regulated. The central reaction in the energy metabolism of all methanogens studied so far, the reduction of CoM-S-S-CoB, was catalysed with high specific activity by a cell-free system. Activity was associated with the membrane fraction. Phenazine was an efficient artificial substrate in partial reactions, suggesting that the recently discovered methanophenazine might act in the organism as the physiological intermediary electron carrier. Our experiments also showed that M. blatticola apparently lacks the pathway for methyl-coenzyme oxidation to CO2, explaining the strict requirement for hydrogen in methanogenesis and the obligately heterotrophic character of the organism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Radboud University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Wander W. Sprenger, Johannes H.P. Hackstein & Jan T. Keltjens

  2. Department of Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Wander W. Sprenger

Authors
  1. Wander W. Sprenger
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  2. Johannes H.P. Hackstein
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  3. Jan T. Keltjens
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Correspondence to Jan T. Keltjens.

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Sprenger, W., Hackstein, J. & Keltjens, J. The energy metabolism of Methanomicrococcus blatticola: physiological and biochemical aspects. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 87, 289–299 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-004-5941-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-004-5941-5

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