Expanding anaerobic alkane metabolism in the domain of Archaea

• Published in: Nature microbiology Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 595 - 602
• Main Authors: Wang, Yinzhao, Wegener, Gunter, Hou, Jialin, Wang, Fengping, Xiao, Xiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.04.2019
• Subjects: Alkanes; Alkanes - chemistry; Alkanes - metabolism; Archaea; Archaea - chemistry; Archaea - classification; Archaea - genetics; Archaea - metabolism; Archaeal Proteins - genetics; Archaeal Proteins - metabolism; Coenzyme M; Genomes; Korarchaeota; Metabolism; Methane; Methane - metabolism; Methanogenesis; Oxidation; Phylogeny; Reductase; Sulfate reduction
• ISSN: 2058-5276
• DOI: 10.1038/s41564-019-0364-2

Methanogenesis and anaerobic methane oxidation through methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) as a key enzyme have been suggested to be basal pathways of archaea . How widespread MCR-based alkane metabolism is among archaea, where it occurs and how it evolved remain elusive. Here, we performed a global survey of MCR-encoding genomes based on metagenomic data from various environments. Eleven high-quality mcr-containing metagenomic-assembled genomes were obtained belonging to the Archaeoglobi in the Euryarchaeota, Hadesarchaeota and different TACK superphylum archaea, including the Nezhaarchaeota, Korarchaeota and Verstraetearchaeota. Archaeoglobi WYZ-LMO1 and WYZ-LMO3 and Korarchaeota WYZ-LMO9 encode both the (reverse) methanogenesis and the dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathway, suggesting that they have the genomic potential to couple both pathways in individual organisms. The Hadesarchaeota WYZ-LMO4-6 and Archaeoglobi JdFR-42 encode highly divergent MCRs, enzymes that may enable them to thrive on non-methane alkanes. The occurrence of mcr genes in different archaeal phyla indicates that MCR-based alkane metabolism is common in the domain of Archaea.