Methylotrophic methanogenesis discovered in the archaeal phylum Verstraetearchaeota

Abstract Methanogenesis is the primary biogenic source of methane in the atmosphere and a key contributor to climate change. The long-standing dogma that methanogenesis originated within the Euryarchaeota was recently challenged by the discovery of putative methane-metabolizing genes in members of the Bathyarchaeota, suggesting that methanogenesis may be more phylogenetically widespread than currently appreciated. Here, we present the discovery of divergent methyl-coenzyme M reductase genes in population genomes recovered from anoxic environments with high methane flux that belong to a new archaeal phylum, the Verstraetearchaeota. These archaea encode the genes required for methylotrophic methanogenesis, and…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Award: DE-SC0010574
• CS
  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
• UO
  University of Queensland
• AM
  Australian Meat Processor Corporation
• AR
  Australian Research Council