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Abstract:
Methanogenic and sulfate-reducing Archaea are considered to have an
energy metabolism involving C-1 transfer coenzymes and enzymes unique
for this group of strictly anaerobic microorganisms. An aerobic
methylotrophic bacterium, Methylobacterium extorquens AM1, was found to
contain a cluster of genes that are predicted to encode some of these
enzymes and was shown to contain two of the enzyme activities and one of
the methanogenic coenzymes. Insertion mutants were all unable to grow on
C-1 compounds, suggesting that the archaeal enzymes function in aerobic
C-1 metabolism. Thus, methylotrophy and methanogenesis involve common
genes that cross the bacterial/archaeal boundaries.
