The genome of M. acetivorans reveals extensive metabolic and physiological diversity.

By James E. Galagan, Chad Nusbaum, Alice Roy, M. Endrizzi, Pendexter Macdonald, W. Fitzhugh, Sarah E. Calvo, Reinhard Engels, S. Smirnov, D. Atnoor and 45 more. Genome Research, 2002

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Methanogenesis, the biological production of methane, plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle and contributes significantly to global warming. The majority of methane in nature is derived from acetate. Here we report the complete genome sequence of an acetate-utilizing methanogen, Methanosarcina acetivorans C2A. Methanosarcineae are the most metabolically diverse methanogens, thrive in a broad range of environments, and are unique among the Archaea in forming complex multicellular structures. This diversity is reflected in the genome of M. acetivorans. At 5,751,492 base pairs it is by far the largest known archaeal genome. The 4524 open reading frames code for a strikingly wide and unanticipated variety of metabolic and cellular capabilities. The presence of novel methyltransferases indicates the likelihood of undiscovered natural energy sources for methanogenesis, whereas the presence of single-subunit carbon monoxide dehydrogenases raises the possibility of nonmethanogenic growth. Although motility has not been observed in any Methanosarcineae, a flagellin gene cluster and two complete chemotaxis gene clusters were identified. The availability of genetic methods, coupled with its physiological and metabolic diversity, makes M. acetivorans a powerful model organism for the study of archaeal biology. [Sequence, data, annotations and analyses are available at http://www-genome.wi.mit.edu/.]

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Building and Construction, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/04f2eb8dd7459e453c2bc2c1c54039f85ddc8728

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THE ROLE AND EVOLUTION OF SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASES IN ALGAE 1 (2005, background): “Reactive oxygen species accumulate both in the open ocean (Gasc et al. 2002) (Fig.”
Methane emissions from wetlands: biogeochemical, microbial, and modeling perspectives from local to global scales (2013, background): “Methanosarcinaceae are the most metabolically versatile group of methanogens, consuming acetate and capable of using methanol, methylamines, and for some terrestrial species also H2 (Galagan et al., 2002; Liu & Whitman, 2008).”
The General Transcription Machinery and General Cofactors (2006, result): “Similar findings of multiple TBP family genes have also been described in other archaea, including Methanosarcina acetivorans (Galagan et al., 2002) and Haloferax volcanii (Thompson et al., 1999).”
MacSyFinder: A Program to Mine Genomes for Molecular Systems with an Application to CRISPR-Cas Systems (2014, background): “For example, many proteins involved in reproduction are highly conserved, whereas others endure selection for fast evolution [5].”