Methanosarcina barkeri
From DrugPedia: A Wikipedia for Drug discovery
Methanosarcina barkeri
The Methanosarcina are the only genus of the Methanosarcinaceae family, and of this, Methansoarcina barkeri is considered the representative species. M. barkeri is non-motile, and contains no flagella, however, one species has been observed producing gas vesicles. They have a tendency to form irregular clusters of cells, of various sizes, as the cells divide. The clusters can grow large enough to be seen by the naked eye. The cells are usually large and spherical and produce a positive Gram stain. It is reported that M. barkeri lives in the rumen of cattle where it helps digest cellulose.
| Domain | Archaea |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Euryarchaeota |
| Phylum | Euryarchaeota |
| Class | Methanomicrobia |
| Order | Methanosarcinales |
| Family | Methanosarcinaceae |
| Genus | Methanosarcina |
| Species | M. barkeri |
| Binomial | Methanosarcina barkeri |
Contents |
[edit] Surface Characteristics
The cell membrane is composed of relatively short lipids, consisting primarily of C25 hydrocarbons and C20 ethers. The majority of other methanogens consist of C30 hydrocarbons and a mixture of C20 and C40 ethers.
[edit] Pathogenic Activity
Methanosarcina barkeri is an archaea and therefore is not known to cause any diseases.
[edit] Application to Biotechnology
It contains unsual amino acid pyrrolysine, unlike the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine, pyrrolysine is only found and only needed in archaea. This opens up the possibility of using the tRNA of pyrrolysine to encode "unnatural" amino acids, allowing for advanced protein engineering. With the elucidation of the PYLIS, scientists could insert these new amino acids into key locations in proteins to engineer novel functionality.
M. barkeri is used to produce methane as an alternative fuel. M. barkeri is able to use a variety of carbon sources for methanogenesis, so it is more flexible than other methanogens in terms of starting material. M. barkeri is also seemingly efficient. It has been said that a well-fed dairy cow can produce as much as 500L of intestinal gas in one day, 35% of which is methane. M. barkeri is thought to be primarily responsible for that 35%.
