METHANE INCORPORATION BY PROCARYOTIC PHOTOSYNTHETICMICROORGANISMS
The procaryotic photosynthetic microorganisms Anacystis nidulans, Nostoc and Rhodospirillum rubrum have cell walls and membranes that are resistant to the solution of methane in their lipid components and intracellular fluids. But Anacystis nidulans, possesses a limited bioxidant system, a portion of which may be extracellularly secreted, which rapidly oxidizes methane to carbon dioxide. Small C{sup 14} activities derived from CH{sub 4} in excess of experimental error are detected in all the major biochemical fractions of Anacystis nidulans and Nostoc. This limited capacity to metabolize methane appears to be a vestigial potentiality that originated over two billion years ago in the early evolution of photosynthetic bacteria and blue-green algae.
- Research Organization:
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USAEC
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 925546
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL--20204
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Multiple metal resistance in the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum
Protocatalytic materials and sensors for pollution monitoring based on algal cells. Phase 1