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A methanotrophic archaeon couples anaerobic oxidation of methane to Fe(III) reduction

  • Chen Cai
  • , Andy O Leu
  • , Guo-Jun Xie
  • , Jianhua Guo
  • , Yuexing Feng
  • , Jian-Xin Zhao
  • , Gene W Tyson
  • , Zhiguo Yuan
  • , Shihu Hu*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

Abstract

Microbially mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is a key process in the regulation of methane emissions to the atmosphere. Iron can serve as an electron acceptor for AOM, and it has been suggested that Fe(III)-dependent AOM potentially comprises a major global methane sink. Although it has been proposed that anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea can facilitate this process, their active metabolic pathways have not been confirmed. Here we report the enrichment and characterisation of a novel archaeon in a laboratory-scale bioreactor fed with Fe(III) oxide (ferrihydrite) and methane. Long-term performance data, in conjunction with the 13C- and 57Fe-labelling batch experiments, demonstrated that AOM was coupled to Fe(III) reduction to Fe(II) in this bioreactor. Metagenomic analysis showed that this archaeon belongs to a novel genus within family Candidatus Methanoperedenaceae, and possesses genes encoding the "reverse methanogenesis" pathway, as well as multi-heme c-type cytochromes which are hypothesised to facilitate dissimilatory Fe(III) reduction. Metatranscriptomic analysis revealed upregulation of these genes, supporting that this archaeon can independently mediate AOM using Fe(III) as the terminal electron acceptor. We propose the name Candidatus "Methanoperedens ferrireducens" for this microorganism. The potential role of "M. ferrireducens" in linking the carbon and iron cycles in environments rich in methane and iron should be investigated in future research. © 2018 International Society for Microbial Ecology.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1929-1939
JournalISME Journal
Volume12
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

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Funding

This work is supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) through projects DP120100163 and DP170104038 and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological Environmental Research (DE-SC0010574). C.C. is supported by The University of Queensland International Scholarship and China Scholarship Council Scholarship. A.O.L. is supported by the Australian Postgraduate Award. G.X. is supported by The University of Queensland Postdoctoral Fellowship. J.G. is supported by the ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Y.F. and J.Z. acknowledge funding support from the ARC and The University of Queensland to the Radiogenic Isotope Facility. G.W.T. is supported by The University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor’s Research Focused Fellowship. S.H. is supported by an Advanced Queensland Research Fellowship.

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