Energy Conservation via Hydrogen Cycling in the Methanogenic Archaeon Methanosarcina barkeri

Abstract

Energy conservation via hydrogen cycling, which generates proton motive force by intracellular H_2 production coupled to extracellular consumption, has been controversial since it was first proposed in 1981. It was hypothesized that the methanogenic archaeon Methanosarcina barkeri is capable of energy conservation via H_2 cycling, based on genetic data that suggest that H_2 is a preferred, but nonessential, intermediate in the electron transport chain of this organism. Here, we characterize a series of hydrogenase mutants to provide direct evidence of H_2 cycling. M. barkeri produces H_2 during growth on methanol, a phenotype that is lost upon mutation of the cytoplasmic hydrogenase encoded by frhADGB, although low levels of H_2, attributable to the Ech hydrogenase, accumulate during stationary phase. In contrast, mutations that conditionally inactivate the extracellular Vht hydrogenase are lethal when expression of the vhtGACD operon is repressed. Under these conditions, H_2 accumulates, with concomitant cessation of methane production and subsequent cell lysis, suggesting that the inability to recapture extracellular H_2 is responsible for the lethal phenotype. Consistent with this interpretation, double mutants that lack both Vht and Frh are viable. Thus, when intracellular hydrogen production is abrogated, loss of extracellular H_2 consumption is no longer lethal. The common occurrence of both intracellular and extracellular hydrogenases in anaerobic microorganisms suggests that this unusual mechanism of energy conservation may be widespread in nature.

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