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Autotrophic synthesis of activated acetic acid from two CO2 inMethanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

II. Evidence for different origins of acetate carbon atoms

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Abstract

Autotrophic CO2 fixation byMethanobacterium thermoautotrophicum proceeds via a total synthesis of activated acetic acid. The origins of the individual carbon atoms were studied in vitro and in vivo. The experiments described showed:

  1. (1)

    Two different routes of CO2 reduction lead to the individual carbon positions in acetate.

  2. (2)

    The carboxyl carbon is provided by a cyanide-sensitive enzyme which reduces CO2 to a bound intermediate with the oxidation state of CO. This intermediate can be supplied by gaseous CO rather than by formate, when its synthesis from CO2 is blocked by cyanide. The characteristics of the enzymic reaction are those of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase.

  3. (3)

    The methyl carbon is derived from CO2 via a different cyanide-insensitive CO2 reduction path, which probably shares the initial intermediates of methanogenesis from CO2 and H2. It does not involve methyl coenzyme M. It is concluded that the pathway of autotrophic CO2 assimilation into activated acetic acid inMethanobacterium is mechanistically related to the clostridial total acetate synthesis.

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  1. Abteilung Angewandte Mikrobiologie der Universität, Oberer Eselsberg, D-7900, Ulm, Federal Republic of Germany

    Erhard Stupperich & Georg Fuchs

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  1. Erhard Stupperich
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  2. Georg Fuchs
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Stupperich, E., Fuchs, G. Autotrophic synthesis of activated acetic acid from two CO2 inMethanobacterium thermoautotrophicum . Arch. Microbiol. 139, 14–20 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692705

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692705

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