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How methanogens are able to render oxygen molecules harmless more

Hydrogenase enzymes catalyze production and utilization of hydrogen gas, which is considered as a future energy carrier. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg and a collaborator at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics discovered that [Fe]-hydrogenase is protected by conformational change of the protein. This finding is crucial for future application of hydrogenases and for understanding the catalytic mechanism of this enzyme. more

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and at the same time an important renewable energy source. The study of methane formation is, therefore, of great relevance for basic and applied science. Microbes called methanogens produce half of the methane on our planet. Most methanogens use hydrogen and CO₂ in a process called hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis to generate methane. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg together with collaborators at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt have now shown how methane generation and CO₂ fixation are connected. The work can potentially improve future attempts to reduce atmospheric methane levels as well as to generate methane as a renewable energy source. This work was recently published in the international journal Science. more

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO₂ and it accumulates in the atmosphere at an alarming rate. Half of the methane produced per year is generated by microorganisms called methanogens. Methanogens generate energy by converting CO₂ to methane and to do so, they use a complicated machinery of different enzymes. The last reaction performed by this machinery liberates methane and is performed by the enzyme methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR), which is common to all methanogens on Earth. Chemically, this is an extremely challenging reaction and is the bottleneck in methane formation by methanogens. more

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg Germany and at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt have determined the structure of the enzyme that catalyzes the first step in methane formation. The work, which can potentially improve future biogas production technologies and may greatly help to combat the formation of atmospheric methane, is published in Science. more