// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Methanimicrococcus say? "I'm a gas.
| Methanimicrococcus | |
|---|---|
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| Phase-contrast photo of Methanimicrococcus blatticola, type strain PAT | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Archaea |
| Kingdom: | Methanobacteriati |
| Phylum: | Methanobacteriota |
| Class: | "Methanomicrobia" |
| Order: | Methanosarcinales |
| Family: | Methanosarcinaceae |
| Genus: | Methanimicrococcus corrig. Sprenger et al. 2000 |
| Type species | |
| Methanimicrococcus blatticola corrig. Sprenger et al. 2000 | |
| Species | |
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The genus Methanimicrococcus was described based on the strain PA (ATCC BAA-276; DSM 13328), isolated from the hindgut of a cockroach, Periplaneta americana.[1] The species was initially named Methanomicrococcus blatticola; however, the name was later corrected to Methanimicrococcus blatticola, making it the only genus of methanogens that has -i as a connecting vowel rather than -o in the name.
The cells are irregular cocci with a diameter of 0.7 – 1 μm, occurring singly or in clusters. M. blatticola can only use methylated compounds, such as methanol or methylamines, in combination with H2 to produce methane, which is in sharp contrast to other methanogens from the Methanosarcinales order. Later studies showed a lack of activity for enzymes involved in the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway that reduce CO2 to the methyl group.[2] Genome analysis demonstrated that the highly reduced genome of M. blatticola lacks the upper part of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, restricting this methanogen to methylated compounds and H2.[3]
Methanimicrococcus could be very abundant among cockroaches, representing up to 97% of the archaeal community in some species.[4] It is also present in some species of termites and scarab beetle larvae. One of the reasons for such success is the very low H2 and methanol threshold[5][6] attributed to H2-dependent methyl-reducing methanogenesis.[7] Additionally, it is suggested that Methanimicrococcus can withstand O2 fluxes in the microoxic environment of the arthropod gut wall, a feature that is rarely observed among methanogens.[6][1] However, the molecular mechanism of such resistance is still not deciphered.
Recently, more species from the Methanimicrococcus genus were described. Three were described based on cultures and were also isolated from cockroaches - M. hacksteinii, M. hongohii, and M. stummii.[8] Two other species were described solely based on genomes obtained from termite gut metagenomes - Candidatus M. labiotermitis and Ca. M. odontotermitis.[4]
Phylogeny
[edit]The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)[9] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).[10]
| 16S rRNA based LTP_07_2026[11][12][13] | 53 marker proteins based GTDB 11-RS232[14][15][16] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 Sprenger, W W; van Belzen, M C; Rosenberg, J; Hackstein, J H; Keltjens, J T (2000-11-01). "Methanomicrococcus blatticola gen. nov., sp. nov., a methanol- and methylamine-reducing methanogen from the hindgut of the cockroach Periplaneta americana". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 50 (6): 1989–1999. Bibcode:2000IJSEM..50.1989S. doi:10.1099/00207713-50-6-1989. ISSN 1466-5026. PMID 11155972.
- ↑ Sprenger, Wander W.; Hackstein, Johannes H.P.; Keltjens, Jan T. (May 2005). "The energy metabolism of Methanomicrococcus blatticola: physiological and biochemical aspects". Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. 87 (4): 289–299. doi:10.1007/s10482-004-5941-5. ISSN 0003-6072. PMID 15928982.
- ↑ Thomas, Courtney M; Taib, Najwa; Gribaldo, Simonetta; Borrel, Guillaume (2021-12-01). "Comparative genomic analysis of Methanimicrococcus blatticola provides insights into host adaptation in archaea and the evolution of methanogenesis". ISME Communications. 1 (1): 47. Bibcode:2021ISMEC...1...47T. doi:10.1038/s43705-021-00050-y. ISSN 2730-6151. PMC 9723798. PMID 37938279.
- 1 2 Protasov, Evgenii; Nonoh, James O.; Kästle Silva, Joana M.; Mies, Undine S.; Hervé, Vincent; Dietrich, Carsten; Lang, Kristina; Mikulski, Lena; Platt, Katja; Poehlein, Anja; Köhler-Ramm, Tim; Miambi, Edouard; Boga, Hamadi I.; Feldewert, Christopher; Ngugi, David K. (2023-11-15). "Diversity and taxonomic revision of methanogens and other archaea in the intestinal tract of terrestrial arthropods". Frontiers in Microbiology. 14 1281628. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1281628. ISSN 1664-302X. PMC 10684969. PMID 38033561.
- ↑ Feldewert, Christopher; Lang, Kristina; Brune, Andreas (2020-09-01). "The hydrogen threshold of obligately methyl-reducing methanogens". FEMS Microbiology Letters. 367 (17) fnaa137. doi:10.1093/femsle/fnaa137. ISSN 1574-6968. PMC 7485788. PMID 32821944.
- 1 2 Sprenger, Wander W.; Hackstein, Johannes H.P.; Keltjens, Jan T. (May 2007). "The competitive success of Methanomicrococcus blatticola, a dominant methylotrophic methanogen in the cockroach hindgut, is supported by high substrate affinities and favorable thermodynamics: Competitive competence of M. blatticola". FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 60 (2): 266–275. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00287.x. PMID 17367516.
- ↑ Mand, Thomas D.; Metcalf, William W. (2019-11-20). "Energy Conservation and Hydrogenase Function in Methanogenic Archaea, in Particular the Genus Methanosarcina". Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews. 83 (4) e00020-19. Bibcode:2019MMBR...8320.19M. doi:10.1128/MMBR.00020-19. ISSN 1092-2172. PMC 6759668. PMID 31533962.
- ↑ Protasov, Evgenii; Reeh, Hanna; Liu, Pengfei; Poehlein, Anja; Platt, Katja; Heimerl, Thomas; Hervé, Vincent; Daniel, Rolf; Brune, Andreas (2024-08-06). "Genome reduction in novel, obligately methyl-reducing Methanosarcinales isolated from arthropod guts (Methanolapillus gen. nov. and Methanimicrococcus)". FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 100 (9) fiae111. doi:10.1093/femsec/fiae111. ISSN 1574-6941. PMC 11362671. PMID 39108084.
- ↑ Methanimicrococcus in LPSN; Freese, H. M.; Meier-Kolthoff, J. P.; Sardà Carbasse, J.; Afolayan, A. O.; Göker, M. (2026). "TYGS and LPSN in 2025: a Global Core Biodata Resource for genome-based classification and nomenclature of prokaryotes within DSMZ Digital Diversity". Nucleic Acids Research. 54 (D1): D884–D891. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf1110.
- ↑ C.L. Schoch. "Methanimicrococcus". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database. Retrieved 2026-08-01.
- ↑ "The LTPlus". The All-Species Living Tree Project. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- ↑ "LTP_all tree in newick format". The All-Species Living Tree Project. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
- ↑ Rossello-Mora, Ramon; Viver, Tomeu; Palmer-Rodríguez, Pere; Westram, Ralf; Bustos-Caparros, Esteban; Gago, Joan Francisco; Gonzalez-Mendez, Jaime; Llabrés, Mercè; Ludwig, Wolfgang; Amann, Rudolf (22 April 2026). "A pipeline for improved 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny and diversity analyses of Bacteria and Archaea". Nature Portfolio. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9370187/v1.
- ↑ "GTDB release 11-RS232". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "ar53_r232.sp_label". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "Taxon History". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
Further reading
[edit]- List Editor IJSEM, ed. (2001). "Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 50, part 6, of the IJSEM". Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 51 (Pt 2): 267–268. doi:10.1099/00207713-51-2-267. PMID 11321069.
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