Digging for Metabolic Fossils in Methanocaldococcus Jannaschii

微生物的功能基于其基因组中编码的基因。 定义这些基因产物的生化功能，称为功能基因组学，是一项重要的奋进。只有在确定了许多未知基因的功能之后，才能评估我们星球上生物体中存在的真正代谢多样性。这项工作涉及发现生物体中与产生甲烷的生物合成反应有关的基因。 它将建立蛋白质的生物化学功能，这些蛋白质在甲烷生产微生物中参与辅酶生物合成的途径中起作用。 这一知识的应用范围可以从减少温室气体排放到有效地从人为废物中生产甲烷作为能源。 在全球范围内，作为全球碳循环的一部分，产甲烷微生物每年产生超过4亿吨的温室气体甲烷。研究这些生物新陈代谢的另一个原因是希望揭示早期地球表面冷却到足以形成生命进化的热液体海洋之后海洋中发生的化学反应的性质。这些反应被称为“原始生物化学”。原始生物化学可以被揭示为“代谢化石”或原始代谢的残余物，它们可能仍然在今天的甲烷生产生物中发挥作用。科学本身是激励学生成为下一代年轻科学家的最有效工具。 通过上述研究，学生将接触到许多不同的科学学科和方法，包括但不限于酶学，分子生物学，有机合成，不同形式的光谱学，生物信息学，蛋白质化学，分析生物化学，益生元化学和厌氧微生物学，所有这些都在一个环境中。本科生将通过实验室的本科研究参与这项工作。在过去的10年里，1-2名本科生在白色实验室连续工作。 学生们预计将在他们的实验室时间发表一个原始审查的科学工作，进一步为他们在科学未来的职业生涯做好准备。新的生物化学途径和相关基因和酶的发现对科学界和整个社会都产生了深远的影响。 这里概述的工作不仅将进一步加深我们对辅酶生物合成和甲烷产生生物的理解，而且还可能提供对最早生命形式所使用的一些化学物质的一瞥。 在这个后基因组时代，每一种新的酶都有助于对许多基因组进行注释，并提供了对各种生物体（良性和致病性）代谢潜力的深入了解。 每一个被鉴定为有功能的基因也为代谢工程增加了工具箱。

Microorganisms function based on the genes encoded in their genomes. Defining the biochemical function of the products of these genes, termed functional genomics, is an important endeavor. Only after the functions of the many unknown genes are identified can the true metabolic diversity present in our planet's organisms be assessed. This work is concerned with discovering the genes involved with biosynthetic reactions in organisms that produce methane. It will establish the biochemical function of the proteins that operate in pathways involved in coenzyme biosynthesis in methane producing microorganisms. The applications of this knowledge can range from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to efficiently producing methane as a source of energy from anthropogenic waste. Worldwide, methanogenic microorganisms produce more than 400 million tons of the greenhouse gas methane each year as part of the global carbon cycle. Another reason to study the metabolism of these organisms is the desire to uncover the nature of the chemical reactions that were occurring in the oceans after the early earth's surface cooled enough to have hot liquid oceans where life could evolve. These reactions are described as 'protobiochemistry.' Protobiochemistry can be revealed as "metabolic fossils" or remnants of primitive metabolism that may still be functioning in present day methane producing organisms. Science itself is the most effective tool for motivating students to become the next generation of young scientists. Through the research described above, students will be exposed to many different scientific disciplines and methods, including but not limited to enzymology, molecular biology, organic synthesis, different forms of spectroscopy, bioinformatics, protein chemistry, analytical biochemistry, prebiotic chemistry, and anaerobic microbiology, all in one setting. Undergraduate students will participate in this work through undergraduate research in the lab. Over the last 10 years, 1-2 undergraduate students have worked on a continual basis in the White laboratory. Students are expected to publish one original reviewed scientific work during their lab time, further preparing them for a future career in the sciences. The discovery of new biochemical pathways and the associated genes and enzymes has a far-reaching impact both within the scientific community and also to society at large. The work outlined here will not only further our understanding of coenzyme biosynthesis and methane producing organisms, but may also provide a glimpse into some of the chemistry used by the earliest forms of life. In this post-genomics era every newly characterized enzyme aids in the annotation of many genomes and provides insight into the metabolic potential of diverse organisms, both benign and pathogenic. Every gene identified as to function also adds to the toolbox for metabolic engineering.