Methyl Group Reduction to Methane

到目前为止，已经发现了六种不寻常的辅酶（甲烷呋喃、四氢甲烷蝶呤、四吡啶镍辅酶F430、去氮黄素F420和7-巯基庚嘌呤磷酸）是甲烷还原二氧化碳所必需的。本项目继续研究该工艺的末端反应，甲基转移和还原成甲烷。被称为组分C的蛋白质现在被明确地确定为甲基还原酶（MR）。特别感兴趣的是：细胞如何维持活跃状态的MR ？产甲烷菌（methanogens）是一种古细菌，代表了一种古老的进化分化。这种分歧的一个有趣的方面是，产甲烷生物化学在产甲烷菌中一直是孤立的，这是其他生物所没有的特征。这种生物化学的独特性被六种不同寻常的辅酶戏剧性地展示了出来，迄今为止，它们被发现是将二氧化碳还原为甲烷所必需的。这些研究具有原创性，意义重大。

Six unusual coenzymes (methanofuran, tetrahydromethanopterin, coenzyme M. nickle tetrapyrrole F430, deazaflavin F420, and 7- mercaptoheptanolythreonine phosphate) so far have been discovered to be required for the reduction of carbon dioxide the methane. The present project continue studies on the terminal reactions of this process, methyl group transfer and reduction to methane. The protein known as component C is now clearly established as the methylreductase (MR). Special interests are: How does the cell maintain MR in the active state? %%% Methanogenic bacteria (methanogens) are archaebacteria and represent an ancient divergence in evolution. An interesting aspect of this divergence is that the biochemistry of methanogenesis has remained isolated in the methanogens, a characteristic not shared by other living things. The uniqueness of this biochemistry is dramatically shown by the six unusual coenzymes that so far have been discovered to be required for the reduction of carbon dioxide to methane. These studies are original and significant.