Substance in Photosynthesis Was in Play in Ancient, Methane-Producing Microbes

February 19, 2014 |

In Virginia, researchers from Virginia Tech, Berkeley and other institutions have discovered that a process that turns on photosynthesis in plants likely developed on Earth in ancient microbes 2.5 billion years ago, long before oxygen became available. The research offers new perspective on evolutionary biology, microbiology, and the production of natural gas, and may shed light on climate change, agriculture, and human health. The findings were described this week in an early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This research concerns methane-forming archaea, a group of microbes known as methanogens, which live in areas where oxygen is absent. Methane is the main component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas. Methanogens play a key role in carbon cycling. When plants die, some of their biomass is trapped in areas that are devoid of oxygen, such as the bottom of lakes. Methanogens help convert the residual biological material to methane, which other organisms convert to carbon dioxide — a product that can be used by plants. The same process allows natural gas production from agricultural residues, a renewable resource.

The team investigated an ancient type of methanogen, Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, which lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents or volcanoes where environmental conditions mimic those that existed on the early Earth. They found that the protein thioredoxin, which plays a major role in contemporary photosynthesis, could repair many of the organism’s proteins damaged by oxygen.

Since methanogens developed before oxygen appeared on earth, the evidence raises the possibility that thioredoxin-based metabolic regulation could have come into play for managing anaerobic life long before the advent of oxygen.

Category: Research

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