Blainey, Paul C.


Publications
2

Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis in archaeal phylum Verstraetearchaeota reveals the shared ancestry of all methanogens

Citation
Berghuis et al. (2019). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 (11)
Names
Ca. Methanomethylicia Ca. Methanomethylicaceae Ca. Methanomethylicales “Methanohydrogenicus thermophilus” Ca. Methanohydrogenales
Abstract
Methanogenic archaea are major contributors to the global carbon cycle and were long thought to belong exclusively to the euryarchaeal phylum. Discovery of the methanogenesis gene cluster methyl-coenzyme M reductase (Mcr) in the Bathyarchaeota, and thereafter the Verstraetearchaeota, led to a paradigm shift, pushing back the evolutionary origin of methanogenesis to predate that of the Euryarchaeota. The methylotrophic methanogenesis found in the non-Euryarchaota distinguished itself from the pre