Methanotrophic archaea possessing diverging methane-oxidizing and electron-transporting pathways.

ABSTRACT: Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a crucial process limiting the flux of methane from marine environments to the atmosphere. The process is thought to be mediated by three groups of uncultivated methane-oxidizing archaea (ANME-1, 2 and 3). Although the responsible microbes have been intensively studied for more than a decade, central mechanistic details remain unresolved. On the basis of an integrated analysis of both environmental metatranscriptome and single-aggregate genome of a highly active AOM enrichment dominated by ANME-2a, we provide evidence for a complete and functioning AOM pathway in ANME-2a. All genes required for performing the seven steps of methanogenesis from CO2 were found present and actively expressed. Meanwhile, genes for energy conservation and electron transpo

SUBMITTER: Wang FP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3996691 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature