Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have uncovered how a methane-producing microbe thrives on toxic sulfite without becoming poisoned. Methanogens are tiny organisms that generate methane in an oxygen-deprived environment. Their production of methane, such as in the di
Illustration of Fsr’s catalytic site where sulfite gets reduced to sulfide. The siroheme that binds and converts the sulfite is embedded in a cavity of the protein which is solvent accessible. This way, the sulfite can easily enter the protein and the produced sulfide can leave it. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
While sulfide is a poison for most organisms, it is essential for methanogens and they can tolerate even high concentrations of it. However, their Achilles’ heel is the toxic and reactive sulfur compound sulfite, which destroys the enzyme needed to make methane. In the current study, Jespersen and her colleagues describe how the enzyme works. “The enzyme traps the sulfite and directly reduces it to sulfide, which can be incorporated, for example, into”, Jespersen explains, “As a result, the methanogen doesn’t get poisoned and even uses the product as its sulfur source. They turn poison into food!”
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