''Methanosaeta'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
archaea
Archaea ( ) is a Domain (biology), domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea only included its Prokaryote, prokaryotic members, but this has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even thou ...
ns in the family
Methanosaetaceae
Methanosaetaceae is a family of microbes within the order Methanosarcinales. All species within this family use acetate as their sole source of energy.
See also
* List of Archaea genera
This article lists the genera of the Archaea. The current ...
. Like other species in this family, those of ''Methanosaeta'' metabolize
acetate
An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic, or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...
as their sole source of energy. The genus contains two species, ''Methanosaeta concilii'', which is the
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
(type strain GP6) and ''Methanosaeta thermophila''. For a time, some scientists believed there to be a third species, ''Methanosaeta soehngenii'', but because it has not been described from a pure culture, it is now called ''
Methanothrix soehngenii''.
Phylogeny
Importance
Methanosaeta species are some of the most active
methanogen
Methanogens are anaerobic archaea that produce methane as a byproduct of their energy metabolism, i.e., catabolism. Methane production, or methanogenesis, is the only biochemical pathway for Adenosine triphosphate, ATP generation in methanogens. A ...
s in wetlands, producing an extensive amount of methane on Earth. The presence of methane is both good and bad. On one hand, methane is 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide in retaining heat—thus contributing to global warming at an increasing rate. On the other hand, methane can be used as bioenergy in an effort to move from large-scale fossil fuel usage to large-scale bioenergy usage, reducing carbon emissions. Scientists at UMass Amherst discovered that Methanosaeta have the ability to reduce carbon dioxide to methane through electrical connections with other microorganisms.
["Energy & Environmental Science." A New Model for Electron Flow during Anaerobic Digestion: Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer to Methanosaeta for the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methane - (RSC Publishing). N.p., n.d. Web. 02 June 2014.]
References
Further reading
Scientific journals
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Scientific books
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Archaea genera
Euryarchaeota
{{Euryarchaeota-stub