Methanogens

Archaea (9)
Methanogens (15)

Synopsis: Microorganisms: Archaea: Methanogens:

if there was a correlation between the proportions of methanogens in the eight sheep with the highest and lowest recorded methane emissions.

In sheep with low methane emissions they found elevated levels of one particular species of methanogen (Methanosphaera)

while sheep with high methane emissions had elevated levels of another group of methanogens (Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii).

and methanogen abundance across sheep were rather subtle the team reported that the expression levels of genes involved in methane production varied more substantially across sheep suggesting differential gene regulation perhaps controlled by hydrogen concentration in the rumen

This research concerns methane-forming archaea a group of microbes known as methanogens which live in areas where oxygen is absent.

This innovative work demonstrates the importance of a new global regulatory system in methanogens said William Whitman a professor of microbiology at the University of Georgia who is familiar with the study

Methanogens play a key role in carbon cycling. When plants die some of their biomass is trapped in areas that are devoid of oxygen such as the bottom of lakes.

Methanogens help convert the residual biological material to methane which other organisms convert to carbon dioxide--a product that can be used by plants.

Methanogens also play an important role in agriculture and human health They live in the digestive systems of cattle

Efforts to control methanogens in specific ways may improve feed utilization and enhance the production of meat

Methanogens are additionally a factor in human nutrition. The organisms live in the large intestine where they enhance the breakdown of food.

Some have proposed that restricting this activity of methanogens could help alleviate obesity. The team investigated an ancient type of methanogen Methanocaldococcus jannaschii

which lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents or volcanoes where environmental conditions mimic those that existed on the early Earth.

Since methanogens developed before oxygen appeared on earth the evidence raises the possibility that thioredoxin-based metabolic regulation could have come into play for managing anaerobic life long before the advent of oxygen.

then another type of bacteria (methanogens) will break it down, releasing the carbon into the atmosphere as methane.

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