The Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, has discovered how a methane-producing bacteria can live on poisonous sulfite without becoming poisoned.
Methanogens are microscopic organisms that produce methane in an oxygen-depleted environment.
How Enzyme Can Make Food From Poison?
Its methane production, such as in ruminant digestive systems, has a substantial impact on the global carbon cycle since methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas.
The study’s subjects are two marine heat-loving methanogens: Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus (which thrives in geothermally heated sediments at roughly 65 °C) and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii (which favors deep-sea volcanos at around 85 °C).
They gain cellular energy by creating methane and receive sulfur for growth in the form of sulfide from their surroundings.
While most species find sulfide poisonous, methanogens require it and can handle high quantities. Their Achilles’ heel, however, is the poisonous and reactive sulfur compound sulfite, which destroys the enzyme required to produce methane.
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Molecular Level Process
Marion Jespersen and Tristan Wagner of Bremen’s Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, along with Antonio Pierik of Kaiserslautern’s University of Kaiserslautern, have now provided a picture of the enzyme detoxifying the sulfite.
The F420-dependent sulfite reductase, or Fsr, is the name given to this butterfly-shaped enzyme. It is capable of converting sulfite to sulfide, a safe supply of sulfur required by methanogens for development.
Jespersen and her colleagues detail how the enzyme functions in the current study. “The enzyme traps the sulfite and directly reduces it to sulfide, which can be incorporated, for example, into amino acids”, Jespersen explains, “, Jespersen adds,“As a result, the methanogen doesn’t get poisoned and even uses the product as its sulfur source. They turn poison into food! ”
It appears to be straightforward. Yet, in fact, Jespersen and her colleagues discovered an interesting and intricate overlap. The enzymes from both the dissimilatory and assimilatory pathways are thought to have originated from a common ancestor.
The Fsr not only opens up evolutionary possibilities, but it also helps us better grasp the intriguing world of marine bacteria. Methanogens that can only thrive on sulfite avoid the dangers of sulfide, their typical sulfur substrate.
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