Summary
Archaea are remarkable microorganisms that form next to bacteria and eukaryotes one of the three domains of life and have shaped Earth’s biogeochemistry and climate for billions of years. These microorganisms are the main producers of the greenhouse gas methane. Especially in view of climate change, it is crucial to understand all factors impacting greenhouse gas emissions. Methanogenic archaea are at the center of my research. Recent breakthroughs in this field have been driven by the discovery of many new archaeal lineages via (meta)genomic sequencing. However, physiological characterization and isolation attempts of archaea lag far behind and the evolution of methanogenic archaea is still heavily debated. Now is the right time to investigate the still underexplored metabolic capabilities of (methanogenic) archaea, their impact on greenhouse gas emissions and to enrich novel archaea.
I recently discovered a metabolic pathway enabling archaea to produce methane and/or CO2 from wood components and, in silico, from prevalent methylated compounds such as chloromethane. The novel enzyme systems involved are widespread and new metabolic pathways involving a variety of methylated substrates can be predicted, suggesting an important role of archaea in anaerobic conversions of lignin and various methylated compounds to methane and/or CO2.
Therefore, I aim to (i) characterize these novel enzyme systems biochemically and in regard to their evolution, (ii) study the physiology of the archaea using these systems and (iii) evaluate the role of these archaea in the environment and for methane and CO2 emissions.
This proposal has the potential to revolutionize our view on the metabolic versatility of archaea by unraveling novel mechanisms of methane and CO2 production in a ground-breaking manner. Identifying new archaeal substrates involved in methane and CO2 production enables us to assess the impact of these conversions on the environment and global methane and CO2 budgets.
I recently discovered a metabolic pathway enabling archaea to produce methane and/or CO2 from wood components and, in silico, from prevalent methylated compounds such as chloromethane. The novel enzyme systems involved are widespread and new metabolic pathways involving a variety of methylated substrates can be predicted, suggesting an important role of archaea in anaerobic conversions of lignin and various methylated compounds to methane and/or CO2.
Therefore, I aim to (i) characterize these novel enzyme systems biochemically and in regard to their evolution, (ii) study the physiology of the archaea using these systems and (iii) evaluate the role of these archaea in the environment and for methane and CO2 emissions.
This proposal has the potential to revolutionize our view on the metabolic versatility of archaea by unraveling novel mechanisms of methane and CO2 production in a ground-breaking manner. Identifying new archaeal substrates involved in methane and CO2 production enables us to assess the impact of these conversions on the environment and global methane and CO2 budgets.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101163114 |
| Start date: | 01-01-2025 |
| End date: | 31-12-2029 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 1 485 968,00 Euro - 1 485 968,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
Archaea are remarkable microorganisms that form next to bacteria and eukaryotes one of the three domains of life and have shaped Earth’s biogeochemistry and climate for billions of years. These microorganisms are the main producers of the greenhouse gas methane. Especially in view of climate change, it is crucial to understand all factors impacting greenhouse gas emissions. Methanogenic archaea are at the center of my research. Recent breakthroughs in this field have been driven by the discovery of many new archaeal lineages via (meta)genomic sequencing. However, physiological characterization and isolation attempts of archaea lag far behind and the evolution of methanogenic archaea is still heavily debated. Now is the right time to investigate the still underexplored metabolic capabilities of (methanogenic) archaea, their impact on greenhouse gas emissions and to enrich novel archaea.I recently discovered a metabolic pathway enabling archaea to produce methane and/or CO2 from wood components and, in silico, from prevalent methylated compounds such as chloromethane. The novel enzyme systems involved are widespread and new metabolic pathways involving a variety of methylated substrates can be predicted, suggesting an important role of archaea in anaerobic conversions of lignin and various methylated compounds to methane and/or CO2.
Therefore, I aim to (i) characterize these novel enzyme systems biochemically and in regard to their evolution, (ii) study the physiology of the archaea using these systems and (iii) evaluate the role of these archaea in the environment and for methane and CO2 emissions.
This proposal has the potential to revolutionize our view on the metabolic versatility of archaea by unraveling novel mechanisms of methane and CO2 production in a ground-breaking manner. Identifying new archaeal substrates involved in methane and CO2 production enables us to assess the impact of these conversions on the environment and global methane and CO2 budgets.
Status
SIGNEDCall topic
ERC-2024-STGUpdate Date
06-11-2024
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