''Methanothermobacter marburgensis'' is a
thermophilic
A thermophile is a type of extremophile that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though some of them are bacteria and fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earliest bact ...
and obligately
autotrophic
An autotroph is an organism that can convert abiotic sources of energy into energy stored in organic compounds, which can be used by other organisms. Autotrophs produce complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) us ...
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 ...
ic archaeon. The type strain Marburg
T was isolated from
sewage sludge
Sewage sludge is the residual, semi-solid material that is produced as a by-product during sewage treatment of industrial or municipal wastewater. The term "septage" also refers to sludge from simple wastewater treatment but is connected to si ...
in the vicinity of the city Marburg, Germany.
It was also detected in
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...
s. It grows in the temperature between 45 and 70 °C with optimum at 65 °C thus it is classified as
thermophile
A thermophile is a type of extremophile that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though some of them are bacteria and fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earliest bacte ...
. Cells are rods with length 3–3.5 μm and 0.3–0.4 μm wide, Gram-positive and non-motile. Its genome has been sequenced.
They reduce
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
with
hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
into methane as the only pathway for ATP production. It does not require any organic supplements and it grows on mineral media with CO
2 as a carbon source, H
2 as a source of electrons, NH
3 as a nitrogen source, and sulfide as a sulfur source (obligate autotroph). The metabolism of ''Methanothermobacter marburgensis'' strain Marburg has been
reconstructed in the form of an experimentally validated computer model.
[
]
It has been reported that under nickel-limited conditions, ''Methanothermobacter marburgensis'' significantly downregulates
iFehydrogenases, with their functions being substituted by
ehydrogenase (Hmd) and an electron-donating protein (Elp) complexed with heterodisulfide reductase (Hdr).
References
Further reading
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External links
LPSN*
Type strain of ''Methanothermobacter marburgensis'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Euryarchaeota
{{Euryarchaeota-stub