Isolation of a methyl-reducing methanogen outside the Euryarchaeota

Kejia Wu, Lei Zhou, Guillaume Tahon, Laiyan Liu, Jiang Li, Jianchao Zhang, Fengfeng Zheng, Chengpeng Deng, Wenhao Han, Liping Bai, Lin Fu, Xiuzhu Dong, Chuanlun Zhang, Thijs J.G. Ettema, Diana Z. Sousa*, Lei Cheng*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Methanogenic archaea are main contributors to methane emissions, and have a crucial role in carbon cycling and global warming. Until recently, methanogens were confined to Euryarchaeota, but metagenomic studies revealed the presence of genes encoding the methyl coenzyme M reductase complex in other archaeal clades1–4, thereby opening up the premise that methanogenesis is taxonomically more widespread. Nevertheless, laboratory cultivation of these non-euryarchaeal methanogens was lacking to corroborate their potential methanogenic ability and physiology. Here we report the isolation of a thermophilic archaeon LWZ-6 from an oil field. This archaeon belongs to the class Methanosuratincolia (originally affiliated with ‘Candidatus Verstraetearchaeota’) in the phylum Thermoproteota. Methanosuratincola petrocarbonis LWZ-6 is a strict hydrogen-dependent methylotrophic methanogen. Although previous metagenomic studies speculated on the fermentative potential of Methanosuratincolia members, strain LWZ-6 does not ferment sugars, peptides or amino acids. Its energy metabolism is linked only to methanogenesis, with methanol and monomethylamine as electron acceptors and hydrogen as an electron donor. Comparative (meta)genome analysis confirmed that hydrogen-dependent methylotrophic methanogenesis is a widespread trait among Methanosuratincolia. Our findings confirm that the diversity of methanogens expands beyond the classical Euryarchaeota and imply the importance of hydrogen-dependent methylotrophic methanogenesis in global methane emissions and carbon cycle.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1124-1130
JournalNature
Volume632
Issue number8027
Early online date24 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2024

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