Here, we present the draft genome of "Candidatus Methanomethylophilus" sp. 1R26, a member of the newly described Methanomassiliicoccales order of Euryarcheaota. The enrichment culture was established from bovine rumen contents and produced methane from trimethylamine and methanol. The draft genome contains genes for methanogenesis from methylated compounds.

Evidence obtained by 13C NMR spectroscopy indicates that tetrahydromethanopterin (H4MPT) serves as a carbon carrier for C1 units at the methine, methylene, and methyl levels of oxidation. All three derivatives of H4MPT served as substrates for methanogenesis by cell extracts under a hydrogen atmosphere; in each instance, methane evolved at a rate comparable to that obtained when 2-(methylthio)e...

Genomic markers for anaerobic microbial processes in marine sediments-sulfate reduction, methanogenesis, and anaerobic methane oxidation-reveal the structure of sulfate-reducing, methanogenic, and methane-oxidizing microbial communities (including uncultured members); they allow inferences about the evolution of these ancient microbial pathways; and they open genomic windows into extreme microb...

Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis and dissimilatory sulfate reduction, two of the oldest energy conserving respiratory systems on Earth, apparently could not have evolved in the same host, as sulfite, an intermediate of sulfate reduction, inhibits methanogenesis. However, certain methanogenic archaea metabolize sulfite employing a deazaflavin cofactor (F(420))-dependent sulfite reductase (Fsr) wh...

Here we describe a new reaction-transport model that quantitatively examines δ13C profiles of porewater methane and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) (δCCH4 and δCDIC) in the anoxic sediments of the Santa Barbara Basin (California Borderland region). Best-fit solutions of the model to these data suggest that CO2 reduction is the predominant form of methanogenesis in these sediments. These soluti...