Methanocorpusculum labreanum Z
   
   
 

Methanocorpusculum labreanum fixes carbon dioxide, produces methane and is involved in biomethanation processes (wastewater treatment, sewage, landfills).

Methanogenic archaea have a major impact on global carbon cycling.   They are generally autotrophs, producing their cellular carbon from carbon dioxide, and they gain energy from methanogenesis, a process by which carbon dioxide and other one-carbon compounds are converted to methane.   Atmospheric methane, a greenhouse gas whose concentration is rapidly increasing, is derived largely from this process.

Oxygen is highly toxic to methanogens, however they occupy a large variety of anaerobic environments.   Methanogens are commonly found associated with decaying organic matter where they catalyze the final step in its decomposition.   Members of the genus Methanocorpusculum are found commonly in wastewater and sewage bioreactors and in landfills.   They are also found as endosymbionts of anaerobic ciliates.

Methanocorpusculum labreanum, isolated from surface sediments of Tar Pit Lake at the LaBrea tar pits in Los Angeles, belongs to the order Methanomicrobiales, the only order of methanogens for which no genome sequences have yet been determined.   JGI will be sequencing the genomes of two members of the Methanomicrobiales, M. labreanum and Methanoculleus marisnigri , and these two genomes will enable comparative genomic studies to determine the genes shared between the two and how the Methanomicrobiales differ from other methanogens in their gene content.

References:

Embley, T. M. and Finlay, B. J.   1993-94.   Systematic and morphological diversity of endosymbiotic methanogens in anaerobic ciliates.   Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 64, 261-271.

Huang, L. N., Zhou, H., Chen, Y. Q., Luo, S., Lan, C. Y., and Qu, L. H. 2002. Diversity and structure of the archaeal community in the leachate of a full-scale recirculating landfill as examined by direct 16S rRNA gene sequence retrieval. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 214, 235-240.

Pender, S., Toomey, M., Carton, M., Eardly, D., Patching, J. W., Colleran, E., and O'Flaherty, V.   2004.   Long-term effects of operating temperature and sulphate addition on the methanogenic community structure of anaerobic hybrid reactors.   Water Res. 38, 619-630.

Whitehead, T. R. and Cotta, M. A.   1999.   Phylogenetic diversity of methanogenic archaea in swine waste storage pits.   FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 179, 223-226.

Zhao, Y., D. R. Boone, R. A. Mah, and L. Xun. 1989. Isolation and characterization of Methanocorpusculum labreanum sp. nov. from the LaBrea Tar pits. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 39:10-13.