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Title: Exploring Hydrogenotrophic Methanogenesis: a Genome Scale Metabolic Reconstruction of Methanococcus maripaludis

Journal Article · · Journal of Bacteriology
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [1];
  1. Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, Washington, USA
  2. Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
  3. Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
  4. Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

ABSTRACT Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis occurs in multiple environments, ranging from the intestinal tracts of animals to anaerobic sediments and hot springs. Energy conservation in hydrogenotrophic methanogens was long a mystery; only within the last decade was it reported that net energy conservation for growth depends on electron bifurcation. In this work, we focus on Methanococcus maripaludis , a well-studied hydrogenotrophic marine methanogen. To better understand hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and compare it with methylotrophic methanogenesis that utilizes oxidative phosphorylation rather than electron bifurcation, we have built iMR539, a genome scale metabolic reconstruction that accounts for 539 of the 1,722 protein-coding genes of M. maripaludis strain S2. Our reconstructed metabolic network uses recent literature to not only represent the central electron bifurcation reaction but also incorporate vital biosynthesis and assimilation pathways, including unique cofactor and coenzyme syntheses. We show that our model accurately predicts experimental growth and gene knockout data, with 93% accuracy and a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.78. Furthermore, we use our metabolic network reconstruction to probe the implications of electron bifurcation by showing its essentiality, as well as investigating the infeasibility of aceticlastic methanogenesis in the network. Additionally, we demonstrate a method of applying thermodynamic constraints to a metabolic model to quickly estimate overall free-energy changes between what comes in and out of the cell. Finally, we describe a novel reconstruction-specific computational toolbox we created to improve usability. Together, our results provide a computational network for exploring hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and confirm the importance of electron bifurcation in this process. IMPORTANCE Understanding and applying hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis is a promising avenue for developing new bioenergy technologies around methane gas. Although a significant portion of biological methane is generated through this environmentally ubiquitous pathway, existing methanogen models portray the more traditional energy conservation mechanisms that are found in other methanogens. We have constructed a genome scale metabolic network of Methanococcus maripaludis that explicitly accounts for all major reactions involved in hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Our reconstruction demonstrates the importance of electron bifurcation in central metabolism, providing both a window into hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and a hypothesis-generating platform to fuel metabolic engineering efforts.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
Grant/Contract Number:
AR0000426
OSTI ID:
1785555
Journal Information:
Journal of Bacteriology, Journal Name: Journal of Bacteriology Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 198; ISSN 0021-9193
Publisher:
American Society for MicrobiologyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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