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Physiological Evidence For Isopotential Tunneling In The Electron Transport Chain Of Methane-Producing Archaea, Nikolas Duszenko, Nicole R. Buan

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Many, but not all, organisms use quinones to conserve energy in their electron transport chains. Fermentative bacteria and methane-producing archaea (methanogens) do not produce quinones but have devised other ways to generate ATP. Methanophenazine (MPh) is a unique membrane electron carrier found in Methanosarcina species that plays the same role as quinones in the electron transport chain. To extend the analogy between quinones and MPh, we compared the MPh pool sizes between two well-studied Methanosarcina species, Methanosarcina acetivorans C2A and Methanosarcina barkeri Fusaro, to the quinone pool size in the bacterium Escherichia coli. We found the quantity of MPh per …