DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: In vitro methanol production from methyl coenzyme M using the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC protein complex

Abstract

Methanol:coenzyme M methyltransferase is an enzyme complex composed of three subunits, MtaA, MtaB, and MtaC, found in methanogenic archaea and is needed for their growth on methanol ultimately producing methane. MtaABC catalyzes the energetically favorable methyl transfer from methanol to coenzyme M to form methyl coenzyme M. Here we demonstrate that this important reaction for possible production of methanol from the anaerobic oxidation of methane can be reversed in vitro. To this effect, we have expressed and purified the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC enzyme, and developed an in vitro functional assay that demonstrates MtaABC can catalyze the energetically unfavorable (Δ G ° = 27 kJ/mol) reverse reaction starting from methyl coenzyme M and generating methanol as a product. Demonstration of an in vitro ability of MtaABC to produce methanol may ultimately enable the anaerobic oxidation of methane to produce methanol and from methanol alternative fuel or fuel‐precursor molecules. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1243–1249, 2017

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
OSTI Identifier:
1533125
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1399795
Grant/Contract Number:  
AR0000432; DE‐AR0000432
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Biotechnology Progress
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 33; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 8756-7938
Publisher:
Society for Biological Engineering
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; biotechnology & applied microbiology; food science & technology; anaerobic methane oxidation; methanol from methane; methanogens; CoM; Zn enzyme; corrinoid

Citation Formats

Dong, Ming, Gonzalez, Tara D., Klems, Meghan M., Steinberg, Lisa M., Chen, Wilfred, Papoutsakis, Eleftherios T., and Bahnson, Brian J. In vitro methanol production from methyl coenzyme M using the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC protein complex. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/btpr.2503.
Dong, Ming, Gonzalez, Tara D., Klems, Meghan M., Steinberg, Lisa M., Chen, Wilfred, Papoutsakis, Eleftherios T., & Bahnson, Brian J. In vitro methanol production from methyl coenzyme M using the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC protein complex. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/btpr.2503
Dong, Ming, Gonzalez, Tara D., Klems, Meghan M., Steinberg, Lisa M., Chen, Wilfred, Papoutsakis, Eleftherios T., and Bahnson, Brian J. Sat . "In vitro methanol production from methyl coenzyme M using the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC protein complex". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/btpr.2503. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1533125.
@article{osti_1533125,
title = {In vitro methanol production from methyl coenzyme M using the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC protein complex},
author = {Dong, Ming and Gonzalez, Tara D. and Klems, Meghan M. and Steinberg, Lisa M. and Chen, Wilfred and Papoutsakis, Eleftherios T. and Bahnson, Brian J.},
abstractNote = {Methanol:coenzyme M methyltransferase is an enzyme complex composed of three subunits, MtaA, MtaB, and MtaC, found in methanogenic archaea and is needed for their growth on methanol ultimately producing methane. MtaABC catalyzes the energetically favorable methyl transfer from methanol to coenzyme M to form methyl coenzyme M. Here we demonstrate that this important reaction for possible production of methanol from the anaerobic oxidation of methane can be reversed in vitro. To this effect, we have expressed and purified the Methanosarcina barkeri MtaABC enzyme, and developed an in vitro functional assay that demonstrates MtaABC can catalyze the energetically unfavorable (Δ G ° = 27 kJ/mol) reverse reaction starting from methyl coenzyme M and generating methanol as a product. Demonstration of an in vitro ability of MtaABC to produce methanol may ultimately enable the anaerobic oxidation of methane to produce methanol and from methanol alternative fuel or fuel‐precursor molecules. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:1243–1249, 2017},
doi = {10.1002/btpr.2503},
journal = {Biotechnology Progress},
number = 5,
volume = 33,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Sat May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 7 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Trace methane oxidation studied in several Euryarchaeota under diverse conditions
journal, January 2005

  • Moran, James J.; House, Christopher H.; Freeman, Katherine H.
  • Archaea, Vol. 1, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1155/2005/650670

Synthetic methylotrophy: engineering the production of biofuels and chemicals based on the biology of aerobic methanol utilization
journal, June 2015

  • Whitaker, William B.; Sandoval, Nicholas R.; Bennett, Robert K.
  • Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Vol. 33
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2015.01.007

Methanol: Coenzyme M Methyltransferase from Methanosarcina Barkeri. Purification, Properties and Encoding Genes of the Corrinoid Protein MT1
journal, February 1997


Methyltransferases involved in methanol conversion by Methanosarcina barkeri
journal, June 1983

  • van der Meijden, Peter; Heythuysen, Henk J.; Pouwels, Aloys
  • Archives of Microbiology, Vol. 134, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1007/BF00407765

Direct conversion technologies of methane to methanol: An overview
journal, November 2016


Activation and inactivation of methanol: 2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid methyltransferase from Methanosarcina barkeri
journal, January 1983

  • van der Meijden, P.; Heythuysen, H. J.; Sliepenbeek, H. T.
  • Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 153, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1128/jb.153.1.6-11.1983

The significance of regulation and land use patterns on natural gas resource estimates in the Marcellus shale
journal, November 2012


Involvement of an activation protein in the methanol:2-mercaptoethanesulfonic acid methyltransferase reaction in Methanosarcina barkeri.
journal, March 1993


Insight into the mechanism of biological methanol activation based on the crystal structure of the methanol-cobalamin methyltransferase complex
journal, December 2006

  • Hagemeier, C. H.; Krer, M.; Thauer, R. K.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 103, Issue 50
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0603650103

Reversing methanogenesis to capture methane for liquid biofuel precursors
journal, January 2016

  • Soo, Valerie W. C.; McAnulty, Michael J.; Tripathi, Arti
  • Microbial Cell Factories, Vol. 15, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1186/s12934-015-0397-z

Reverse Methanogenesis: Testing the Hypothesis with Environmental Genomics
journal, September 2004


Metabolic engineering of Methanosarcina acetivorans for lactate production from methane : Anaerobic Lactate Production From Methane
journal, November 2016

  • McAnulty, Michael J.; Poosarla, Venkata Giridhar; Li, Jine
  • Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol. 114, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1002/bit.26208

Rethinking biological activation of methane and conversion to liquid fuels
journal, April 2014


Engineering the biological conversion of methanol to specialty chemicals in Escherichia coli
journal, January 2017


Methyl-coenzyme M reductase and the anaerobic oxidation of methane in methanotrophic Archaea
journal, December 2005


Works referencing / citing this record:

Co-occurring genomic capacity for anaerobic methane and dissimilatory sulfur metabolisms discovered in the Korarchaeota
journal, March 2019