IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v3y2012i1d10.1038_ncomms2049.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evidence for methane production by saprotrophic fungi

Author

Listed:
  • Katharina Lenhart

    (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128 Mainz, Germany.)

  • Michael Bunge

    (Institute of Applied Microbiology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.)

  • Stefan Ratering

    (Institute of Applied Microbiology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.)

  • Thomas R. Neu

    (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Brückstrasse 3a, 39114 Magdeburg, Germany.)

  • Ina Schüttmann

    (Institute of Food Chemistry & Food Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany.)

  • Markus Greule

    (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128 Mainz, Germany.)

  • Claudia Kammann

    (Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.)

  • Sylvia Schnell

    (Institute of Applied Microbiology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.)

  • Christoph Müller

    (Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
    School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield)

  • Holger Zorn

    (Institute of Food Chemistry & Food Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, IFZ, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany.)

  • Frank Keppler

    (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128 Mainz, Germany.)

Abstract

Methane in the biosphere is mainly produced by prokaryotic methanogenic archaea, biomass burning, coal and oil extraction, and to a lesser extent by eukaryotic plants. Here we demonstrate that saprotrophic fungi produce methane without the involvement of methanogenic archaea. Fluorescence in situ hybridization, confocal laser-scanning microscopy and quantitative real-time PCR confirm no contribution from microbial contamination or endosymbionts. Our results suggest a common methane formation pathway in fungal cells under aerobic conditions and thus identify fungi as another source of methane in the environment. Stable carbon isotope labelling experiments reveal methionine as a precursor of methane in fungi. These findings of an aerobic fungus-derived methane formation pathway open another avenue in methane research and will further assist with current efforts in the identification of the processes involved and their ecological implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina Lenhart & Michael Bunge & Stefan Ratering & Thomas R. Neu & Ina Schüttmann & Markus Greule & Claudia Kammann & Sylvia Schnell & Christoph Müller & Holger Zorn & Frank Keppler, 2012. "Evidence for methane production by saprotrophic fungi," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 1-8, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2049
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2049
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms2049?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leonard Ernst & Uladzimir Barayeu & Jonas Hädeler & Tobias P. Dick & Judith M. Klatt & Frank Keppler & Johannes G. Rebelein, 2023. "Methane formation driven by light and heat prior to the origin of life and beyond," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2049. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.