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Anaerobic oxidation of methane: it takes two to tango

In this Journal Club Rafael Laso Pérez revisits a paper that provided evidence of the syntrophic relation between anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria and highlights how scientific collaboration can propel a field forward.

Rafael Laso-Pérez
Research Highlights22 Jul 2025
Nature Reviews Microbiology

Volume: 23, P: 620
Atomic resolution structures of the methane-activating enzyme in anaerobic methanotrophy reveal extensive post-translational modifications

Biochemical research on methane oxidation in anaerobic methanotrophic archaea is hampered by the lack of cultured isolates. Here, Müller et al. present atomic-resolution snapshots of the methane-oxidising enzymes purified from enrichment cultures, providing molecular insights into the process and revealing unusual post-translational modifications.

Marie-C. Müller
Martijn Wissink
Tristan Wagner
ResearchOpen Access05 Sept 2025
Nature Communications

Volume: 16, P: 1-13
Non-syntrophic methanogenic hydrocarbon degradation by an archaeal species

‘Candidatus Methanoliparum’ overexpresses genes encoding alkyl-coenzyme M and methyl-coenzyme M reductases—markers of archaeal multicarbon alkane and methane metabolism—and thrives on a variety of long-chain alkanes and n-alkylcyclohexanes, and n-alkylbenzenes with long n-alkyl (C_≥13) moieties.

Zhuo Zhou
Cui-jing Zhang
Lei Cheng
Research22 Dec 2021
Nature

Volume: 601, P: 257-262
Deep-mining the archaeal proteome for antibiotics

A deep-learning algorithm unravels a collection of archaeasins, peptides from the archaeal proteome with potential antimicrobial activity and implications for the development of next-generation antibiotics

Rafael Laso-Pérez
News & Views23 Sept 2025
Nature Microbiology

Volume: 10, P: 2365-2366
Evolutionary diversification of methanotrophic ANME-1 archaea and their expansive virome

ANME-1 archaea are important because of their ability to metabolize methane through anaerobic oxidation. Here the authors use metagenomics on hydrothermal samples from the Gulf of California to characterize a family of ANME-1 and its virome.

Rafael Laso-Pérez
Fabai Wu
Victoria J. Orphan
ResearchOpen Access19 Jan 2023
Nature Microbiology

Volume: 8, P: 231-245
A hydrogenotrophic Sulfurimonas is globally abundant in deep-sea oxygen-saturated hydrothermal plumes

An uncultivated, aerobic chemolithotrophic Sulfurimonas species with a reduced genome is abundant across diverse, hydrogen-rich hydrothermal plumes in the deep ocean.

Massimiliano Molari
Christiane Hassenrueck
Antje Boetius
ResearchOpen Access09 Mar 2023
Nature Microbiology

Volume: 8, P: 651-665
Candidatus Alkanophaga archaea from Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent sediment oxidize petroleum alkanes

Oil-rich deep-sea sediments are used to culture syntrophic communities of archaea and bacteria that pair petroleum alkane oxidation to sulfide generation.

Hanna Zehnle
Rafael Laso-Pérez
Gunter Wegener
ResearchOpen Access01 Jun 2023
Nature Microbiology

Volume: 8, P: 1199-1212
Thermophilic archaea activate butane via alkyl-coenzyme M formation

Anaerobic archaea enriched in thermophilic microbial consortia completely degrade butane by modifying mechanisms which were hitherto thought to be specific to methane metabolism.

Rafael Laso-Pérez
Gunter Wegener
Florin Musat
Research17 Oct 2016
Nature

Volume: 539, P: 396-401
Diversity and metabolism of Woeseiales bacteria, global members of marine sediment communities

Katy Hoffmann
Christina Bienhold
Pierre Offre
ResearchOpen Access27 Jan 2020
The ISME Journal

Volume: 14, P: 1042-1056
Establishing anaerobic hydrocarbon-degrading enrichment cultures of microorganisms under strictly anoxic conditions

Many anaerobic microorganisms are difficult to isolate because they grow slowly and rely on interactions with other microorganisms. This protocol describes an approach for the successive enrichment of syntrophic hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms.

Rafael Laso-Pérez
Viola Krukenberg
Gunter Wegener
Protocols17 May 2018
Nature Protocols

Volume: 13, P: 1310-1330

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Anaerobic oxidation of methane: it takes two to tango

Atomic resolution structures of the methane-activating enzyme in anaerobic methanotrophy reveal extensive post-translational modifications

Non-syntrophic methanogenic hydrocarbon degradation by an archaeal species

Deep-mining the archaeal proteome for antibiotics

Evolutionary diversification of methanotrophic ANME-1 archaea and their expansive virome

A hydrogenotrophic Sulfurimonas is globally abundant in deep-sea oxygen-saturated hydrothermal plumes

Candidatus Alkanophaga archaea from Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent sediment oxidize petroleum alkanes

Thermophilic archaea activate butane via alkyl-coenzyme M formation

Diversity and metabolism of Woeseiales bacteria, global members of marine sediment communities

Establishing anaerobic hydrocarbon-degrading enrichment cultures of microorganisms under strictly anoxic conditions

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