Evidence for Enzymatic Backbone Methylation of the Main Membrane Lipids in the Archaeon Methanomassiliicoccus luminyensis.

ABSTRACT: Butanetriol and pentanetriol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (BDGTs and PDGTs, respectively) are recently identified classes of archaeal membrane lipids that are prominent constituents in anoxic subseafloor sediments. These lipids are intriguing, as they possess unusual backbones with four or five carbon atoms instead of the canonical three-carbon glycerol backbone. In this study, we examined the biosynthesis of BDGTs and PDGTs by the methanogen Methanomassiliicoccus luminyensis, the only available isolate known to produce these compounds, via stable isotope labeling with [methyl-¹³C]methionine followed by mass spectrometry analysis. We show that their biosynthesis proceeds from transfer(s) of the terminal methyl group of methionine to the more common archaeal membrane

SUBMITTER: Coffinet S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8863040 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature