biostudies-literatureUnknown61(10)Lemaire ONMax-Planck-GesellschaftMicrobial anaerobic oxidation of alkanes intrigues the scientific community by way of its impact on the global carbon cycle, and its biotechnological applications. Archaea are proposed to degrade short- and long-chain alkanes to CO₂ by reversing methanogenesis, a theoretically reversible process. The pathway would start with alkane activation, an endergonic step catalyzed by methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) homologues that would generate alkyl-thiols carried by coenzyme M. While the methane-generating MCR found in methanogens has been well characterized, the enzymatic activity of the putative alkane-fixing counterparts has not been validated so far. Such an absence of biochemical investigations contrasts with the current explosion of metagenomics data, which draws new potentialBiochemistry805-821https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9118554biostudies-literatureA Structural View of Alkyl-Coenzyme M Reductases, the First Step of Alkane Anaerobic Oxidation Catalyzed by Archaea.PMC9118554Wagner TLemaire ONfalseA Structural View of Alkyl-Coenzyme M Reductases, the First Step of Alkane Anaerobic Oxidation Catalyzed by Archaea.Microbial anaerobic oxidation of alkanes intrigues the scientific community by way of its impact on the global carbon cycle, and its biotechnological applications. Archaea are proposed to degrade short- and long-chain alkanes to CO₂ by reversing methanogenesis, a theoretically reversible process. The pathway would start with alkane activation, an endergonic step catalyzed by methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) homologues that would generate alkyl-thiols carried by coenzyme M. While the methane-generating MCR found in methanogens has been well characterized, the enzymatic activity of the putative alkane-fixing counterparts has not been validated so far. Such an absence of biochemical investigations contrasts with the current explosion of metagenomics data, which draws new potential2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 May2025-05-18T12:04:10.242Z2025-04-05T20:39:43.833ZS-EPMC91185543550027410.1021/acs.biochem.2c00135