Exploring Energy Conservation in Sulphate-Dependent Anaerobic Methane-Oxidising Consortia Through Metabolic Modelling.

ABSTRACT: Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled with sulphate reduction (SR) is a crucial microbial process that mitigates methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change. However, the bioenergetics underlying this process remains poorly understood. Here, we present a metabolic model to quantify energy fluxes and conservation in AOM consortia by integrating enzyme-level thermodynamics and kinetics. Unlike previous models that impose artificial constraints on energy conservation kinetics and efficiency, our approach mechanistically predicts ATP yields and energy efficiencies. We show that both anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) invest energy in substrate activation, synthesising ATP with comparable yields (0.23-0.24 mol ATP per mol methane or

SUBMITTER: Bowman G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12287890 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature