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Cycle for methanogenesis, showing intermediates. Methanogenesis in microbes is a form of anaerobic respiration. [4] Methanogens do not use oxygen to respire; in fact, oxygen inhibits the growth of methanogens. The terminal electron acceptor in methanogenesis is not oxygen, but carbon.
Methanogens are anaerobic archaea that produce methane as a byproduct of their energy metabolism, i.e., catabolism. Methane production, or methanogenesis, is the only biochemical pathway for ATP generation in methanogens.
This table helps illuminate that methanotrophs that favor extreme environments, like hydrothermal vents, tend to uptake methane via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham Cycle (CBB). Research to understand why certain methanotrophs favor certain conditions and assimilation pathways is ongoing and relevant to predicting methanotroph responses to climate change.
The process involves non-microbial methane generation from terrestrial plant-matter. Temperature and ultraviolet light are thought to be key factors in this process. [1] Methane may also be produced under aerobic conditions in near-surface ocean water, a process which likely involves the degradation of methylphosphonate. [9]
Whereas in aerobic respiration the oxidant is always oxygen, in anaerobic respiration it varies. Each oxidant produces a different waste product, such as nitrite, succinate, sulfide, methane, and acetate. Anaerobic respiration is correspondingly less efficient than aerobic respiration.
The end products of an aerobic process are primarily carbon dioxide and water which are the stable, oxidised forms of carbon and hydrogen. If the biodegradable starting material contains nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, then the end products may also include their oxidised forms- nitrate, phosphate and sulfate. [1]
Anaerobic cellular respiration and fermentation generate ATP in very different ways, and the terms should not be treated as synonyms. Cellular respiration (both aerobic and anaerobic) uses highly reduced chemical compounds such as NADH and FADH 2 (for example produced during glycolysis and the citric acid cycle) to establish an electrochemical gradient (often a proton gradient) across a membrane.
In addition to aerobic methylotrophy, methane can also be oxidized anaerobically. This occurs by a consortium of sulfate-reducing bacteria and relatives of methanogenic Archaea working syntrophically (see below). Little is currently known about the biochemistry and ecology of this process. Methanogenesis is the