A nitrogenase-like enzyme system catalyzes methionine, ethylene, and methane biogenesis

North, Justin A; Narrowe, Adrienne B; Xiong, Weili; Byerly, Kathryn M; Zhao, Guanqi; Young, Sarah J; Murali, Srividya; Wildenthal, John A; Cannon, William R; Wrighton, Kelly C; Hettich, Robert L; Tabita, Fred Robert

doi:10.1126/science.abb6310

Title: A nitrogenase-like enzyme system catalyzes methionine, ethylene, and methane biogenesis

Journal Article · 28 August 2020 · Science (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6310 · OSTI ID:1658249

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The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Bacterial production of hydrocarbon gases like ethylene and methane affects soil ecosystems and the climate. This study reveals that methane and ethylene from land and freshwater bacteria are directly produced by a previously unknown methionine biosynthesis pathway. This pathway employs a nitrogenase-like reductase that is distinct from known nitrogenases and nitrogenase-like reductases. The nitrogenase-like methylthio-alkane reductase specifically functions in carbon-sulfur bond breakage to reduce ubiquitous and significant volatile organic sulfur compounds such as dimethyl sulfide and (2-methylthio)ethanol. The liberated methanethiol serves as the immediate precursor to methionine. Whereas ethylene or methane is released into the environment. This pathway provides a biological route to the synthesis of ethylene in the absence of oxygen. Finally, anaerobic ethylene production by this pathway apparently explains the long-standing observation of ethylene accumulation in oxygen-depleted soils Methane production reveals an additional bacterial pathway that is distinct from archaeal methanogenesis.

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Research Organization:: The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); NCI

Contributing Organization:: University of Colorado Cancer Center’s Genomics and Microarray Core Shared Resource; University of Colorado Boulder Research Computing Group; Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory; Battelle and UT-Battelle, LLC

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0019338; AC05-76RLO1830; P30CA046934; AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1658249

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1813253

Journal Information:: Science (Online), Vol. 369, Issue 6507; Related Information: All raw mass spectraand searched data files for the proteome measurements have beendeposited into the ProteomeXchange repository: MassIVE accessionnumber MSV000084455 (FTP link to files: ftp://massive.ucsd.edu/MSV000084455/) and ProteomeXchange accession numberPXD015818. Raw transcriptomics reads are available in the NCBISequence Read Archive under accession numbers SRR10887327through SRR10887338 and BioProject accession number PRJNA601207.; ISSN 1095-9203

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: A nitrogenase-like enzyme system catalyzes methionine, ethylene, and methane biogenesis

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References (58)

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