skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Examining Pathways of Iron and Sulfur Acquisition, Trafficking, Deployment, and Storage in Mineral-Grown Methanogen Cells

Journal Article · · Journal of Bacteriology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.00146-21· OSTI ID:1819238

Methanogens have a high demand for iron (Fe) and sulfur (S); however, little is known of how they acquire, deploy, and store these elements and how this, in turn, affects their physiology. Methanogens were recently shown to reduce pyrite (FeS2) generating aqueous iron-sulfide (FeS(aq)) clusters that are likely assimilated as a source of Fe and S. Here, we compare the phenotype of Methanococcus voltae when grown with FeS2 or ferrous iron (Fe(II)) and sulfide (HS-). FeS2-grown cells are 33% smaller yet have 193% more Fe than Fe(II)/HS--grown cells. Whole cell EPR revealed similar distributions of paramagnetic Fe, although FeS2-grown cells showed a broad spectral feature attributed to intracellular thioferrate-like nanoparticles. Differential proteomic analyses showed similar expression of core methanogenesis enzymes, indicating that Fe and S source does not substantively alter the energy metabolism of cells. However, a homolog of the Fe(II) transporter FeoB and its putative transcriptional regulator DtxR were up-expressed in FeS2-grown cells, suggesting that cells sense Fe(II) limitation. Two homologs of IssA, a protein putatively involved in coordinating thioferrate nanoparticles, were also up-expressed in FeS2-grown cells. We interpret these data to indicate that, in FeS2-grown cells, DtxR cannot sense Fe(II) and therefore cannot down-regulate FeoB. We suggest this is due to the transport of Fe(II) complexed with sulfide (FeS(aq)) leading to excess Fe that is sequestered by IssA as a thioferrate-like species. This model provides a framework for the design of targeted experiments aimed at further characterizing Fe acquisition and homeostasis in M. voltae and other methanogens.

Research Organization:
Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0020246
OSTI ID:
1819238
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1813462; OSTI ID: 1813862; OSTI ID: 1831429
Journal Information:
Journal of Bacteriology, Journal Name: Journal of Bacteriology Vol. 203 Journal Issue: 19; ISSN 0021-9193
Publisher:
American Society for MicrobiologyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (83)

Biological iron-sulfur storage in a thioferrate-protein nanoparticle journal July 2017
Nickel-Containing Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase/Acetyl-CoA Synthase, journal January 1996
Temperature dependence of the electronic spin-lattice relaxation time in a 2-iron-2-sulfur protein journal November 1979
Methanogens: a window into ancient sulfur metabolism journal May 2012
Magnetic properties of potassium dithioferrate: A linear chain antiferromagnet and model compound for the exchange interactions in two-iron ferredoxins journal November 1972
Fe-S cluster biogenesis by the bacterial Suf pathway journal November 2020
Electron spin relaxation of iron-sulphur proteins studied by microwave power saturation journal December 1978
Electron Spin Relaxation and Biochemical Characterization of the Hydrogenase Maturase HydF: Insights into [2Fe-2S] and [4Fe-4S] Cluster Communication and Hydrogenase Activation journal May 2017
Structure, Function, and Formation of Biological Iron-Sulfur Clusters journal June 2005
MetalPredator: a web server to predict iron–sulfur cluster binding proteomes journal June 2016
Assigning Significance to Peptides Identified by Tandem Mass Spectrometry Using Decoy Databases journal January 2008
Higher-level classification of the Archaea: evolution of methanogenesis and methanogens journal January 2005
Lack of a Role for Iron in the Lyme Disease Pathogen journal June 2000
Dimensions of Escherichia coli at various growth rates: model for envelope growth journal August 1978
Compilation of Henry's law constants (version 4.0) for water as solvent journal January 2015
Iron-Sulfur Clusters: Nature's Modular, Multipurpose Structures journal August 1997
The PRIDE database and related tools and resources in 2019: improving support for quantification data journal November 2018
An improved cell separation technique for marine subsurface sediments: applications for high-throughput analysis using flow cytometry and cell sorting: Counting and sorting cells from marine sediments journal June 2013
Feo – Transport of Ferrous Iron into Bacteria journal April 2006
Abundance of 4Fe–4S motifs in the genomes of methanogens and other prokaryotes journal October 2004
Metal Sulfide Cluster Complexes and their Biogeochemical Importance in the Environment journal October 2005
Characterization of the ferrous iron uptake system of Escherichia coli. journal October 1993
Methanogens, sulphate and heavy metals: a complex system journal November 2015
[2Fe-2S] to [4Fe-4S] Cluster Conversion in Escherichia coli Biotin Synthase journal September 1997
A Third Bacterial System for the Assembly of Iron-Sulfur Clusters with Homologs in Archaea and Plastids journal June 2002
Interplay between Oxygen and Fe–S Cluster Biogenesis: Insights from the Suf Pathway journal September 2014
Chemistry of Iron Sulfides journal February 2007
Sedimentary pyrite formation: An update journal April 1984
EPR signal intensity and powder shapes: A reexamination journal September 1975
Kinetics of pyrite formation by the H2S oxidation of iron (II) monosulfide in aqueous solutions between 25 and 125°C: The rate equation journal January 1997
Phylogeny and evolution of the Archaea: one hundred genomes later journal June 2011
Nutrition and carbon metabolism of Methanococcus voltae. journal January 1982
A cross-platform toolkit for mass spectrometry and proteomics journal October 2012
More Than 200 Genes Required for Methane Formation from H 2 and CO 2 and Energy Conservation Are Present in Methanothermobacter marburgensis and Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus journal January 2011
The SufE Protein and the SufBCD Complex Enhance SufS Cysteine Desulfurase Activity as Part of a Sulfur Transfer Pathway for Fe-S Cluster Assembly in Escherichia coli journal August 2003
Analysis of Genes Encoding an Alternative Nitrogenase in the Archaeon Methanosarcina barkeri 227 journal June 2000
Protein complexing in a methanogen suggests electron bifurcation and electron delivery from formate to heterodisulfide reductase journal June 2010
Cysteine Is Not the Sulfur Source for Iron-Sulfur Cluster and Methionine Biosynthesis in the Methanogenic Archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis journal August 2010
A paramagnetic species with unique EPR characteristics in the active site of heterodisulfide reductase from methanogenic archaea: EPR properties of heterodisulfide reductase journal May 2001
Surface chemistry of disordered mackinawite (FeS) journal July 2005
Pyrite formation linked with hydrogen evolution under anaerobic conditions journal August 1990
Regulation of the synthesis of H 2 -forming methylenetetrahydromethanopterin dehydrogenase (Hmd) and of HmdII and HmdIII in Methanothermobacter marburgensis journal September 2000
Generating high quality libraries for DIA MS with empirically corrected peptide predictions journal March 2020
MetaboAnalystR 3.0: Toward an Optimized Workflow for Global Metabolomics journal May 2020
Semi-supervised learning for peptide identification from shotgun proteomics datasets journal October 2007
Horizontal gene transfer constrains the timing of methanogen evolution journal April 2018
Reductive dissolution of pyrite by methanogenic archaea journal June 2021
Pathways of Iron and Sulfur Acquisition, Cofactor Assembly, Destination, and Storage in Diverse Archaeal Methanogens and Alkanotrophs journal August 2021
Radical S -Adenosylmethionine Enzymes journal January 2014
Recent advances in the Suf Fe–S cluster biogenesis pathway: Beyond the Proteobacteria journal June 2015
The methanogenic CO2 reducing-and-fixing enzyme is bifunctional and contains 46 [4Fe-4S] clusters journal October 2016
Comparison of the spin-lattice relaxation properties of the two classes of [2Fe-2S] clusters in proteins journal November 1987
RNA-Dependent Cysteine Biosynthesis in Archaea journal March 2005
Bacterial Alternative Nitrogen Fixation Systems journal January 1988
The synthesis of framboidal pyrite journal June 1969
Dependency on Medium and Temperature of Cell Size and Chemical Composition during Balanced Growth of Salmonella typhimurium journal December 1958
Spectrophotometric Determination of Hydrogen Sulfide journal June 1949
Chemical speciation drives hydrothermal vent ecology journal April 2001
Quantitative maps of protein phosphorylation sites across 14 different rat organs and tissues journal January 2012
Carbon-dependent control of electron transfer and central carbon pathway genes for methane biosynthesis in the Archaean, Methanosarcina acetivorans strain C2A journal January 2010
Use of voltammetric solid-state (micro)electrodes for studying biogeochemical processes: Laboratory measurements to real time measurements with an in situ electrochemical analyzer (ISEA) journal January 2008
Influence of sulphur-containing compounds on the growth of Methanosarcina barkeri in a defined medium journal January 1981
Kinetics of pyrite to pyrrhotite reduction by hydrogen in calcite buffered solutions between 90 and 180°C: Implications for nuclear waste disposal journal May 2010
Regulation of Iron Metabolism by Pyrococcus furiosus journal May 2013
Reactivity, Mechanism, and Assembly of the Alternative Nitrogenases journal March 2020
The Crystal Structure of [Fe]-Hydrogenase Reveals the Geometry of the Active Site journal July 2008
Methanogens: biochemical background and biotechnological applications journal January 2018
Methanogenic archaea: ecologically relevant differences in energy conservation journal June 2008
Origins of metal ion selectivity in the DtxR/MntR family of metalloregulators: Origins of metal ion selectivity journal April 2003
Magnetic Circular Dichroism and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Studies of Hydrogenases I and II from Clostridium pasteurianum journal December 1989
Methanogenic heterodisulfide reductase (HdrABC-MvhAGD) uses two noncubane [4Fe-4S] clusters for reduction journal August 2017
Elemental Economy book January 2012
Spectroscopic characterization of the novel iron-sulfur cluster in Pyrococcus furiosus ferredoxin. journal May 1990
Hydrogenases from Methanogenic Archaea, Nickel, a Novel Cofactor, and H 2 Storage journal June 2010
Control of cell length in Bacillus subtilis journal July 1975
Component C of the methylreductase system of Methanobacterium. journal May 1981
Non-parametric estimation of posterior error probabilities associated with peptides identified by tandem mass spectrometry journal August 2008
Extending the Conserved Phylogenetic Core of Archaea Disentangles the Evolution of the Third Domain of Life journal February 2015
Electron spin–lattice relaxation of the (4Fe–4S) ferredoxin from B. stearothermophilus. Comparison with other iron proteins journal May 1982
Mössbauer, EPR, and magnetization studies of the Azotobacter vinelandii Fe protein. Evidence for a [4Fe-4S]1+ cluster with spin S = 3/2. journal September 1985
Growth rate and cell size: a re-examination of the growth law journal April 2015
Observation of S = 2 EPR signals from ferrous iron-thiolate complexes. Relevance to rubredoxin-type sites in proteins journal April 1989
Formylmethanofuran dehydrogenases from methanogenic Archaea Substrate specificity, EPR properties and reversible inactivation by cyanide of the molybdenum or tungsten iron-sulfur proteins journal March 1994