Thioredoxin Targets Fundamental Processes in a Methane-Producing Archaeon, Methanocaldococcus Jannaschii
Thioredoxin targets fundamental processes in a methane-producing archaeon, Methanocaldococcus jannaschii Dwi Susantia,b,c, Joshua H. Wongd, William H. Vensele, Usha Loganathana,c,f, Rebecca DeSantisg,1, Ruth A. Schmitzg, Monica Balserah, Bob B. Buchanand,2, and Biswarup Mukhopadhyaya,c,f,2 Departments of aBiochemistry and fBiological Sciences, bGenetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Graduate Program, and cVirginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061; dDepartment of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; eWestern Regional Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Albany, CA 94710; gInstitut für Allgemeine Mikrobiologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany; and hDepartamento de Estrés Abiótico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC), 37008 Salamanca, Spain Contributed by Bob B. Buchanan, January 7, 2014 (sent for review September 10, 2013) Thioredoxin (Trx), a small redox protein, controls multiple pro- strict anaerobes that produce methane, a prominent greenhouse cesses in eukaryotes and bacteria by changing the thiol redox gas and important fuel. We have focused on Methanocaldococcus status of selected proteins. The function of Trx in archaea is, jannaschii—a deeply rooted, hyperthermophilic methanogen living however, unexplored. To help fill this gap, we have investigated in deep-sea hydrothermal vents (10) where conditions mimic those this aspect in methanarchaea—strict anaerobes that produce meth- of early Earth. M. jannaschii produces methane exclusively from ane, a fuel and greenhouse gas. Bioinformatic analyses suggested H2 and CO2 via a process believed to represent an ancient form of that Trx is nearly universal in methanogens. Ancient methanogens respiration (11).
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