Mechanisms utilized by Methanobacterium sp. YSL for growth on zero-valent iron

Shiling Zheng; Xin Li; Fanghua Liu; Derek R. Lovley; Dawn E. Holmes

doi:10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2025.100166

The Innovation Geoscience > 2025 Vol. 3 > No. 4 > 100166

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Mechanisms utilized by Methanobacterium sp. YSL for growth on zero-valent iron

1.
Shandong Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
2.
Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center, Qingdao 266237, China
3.
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China
4.
National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangzhou 510650, China
5.
Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA
6.
Department of Physical and Biological Science, Western New England University, Springfield, Massachusetts 01119, USA

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Corresponding author: fhliu@yic.ac.cn
Received Date: January 08, 2025

Accepted Date: September 11, 2025

Published Online: September 15, 2025

The Innovation Geoscience 3(4), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2025.100166 | Cite this article

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. Strain YSL employs H₂ as an intermediary electron carrier to extract electrons from zero-valent iron.
  
  Mutations in key subunits of the Eha complex likely render it nonfunctional in strain YSL.
  
  Cytoplasmic hydrogenases compensate for Eha’s inactivity and enable slow H₂-dependent growth of strain YSL.
  
  The results emphasize the environmental importance of microbial reactions that seem slow in lab culture.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Electrobiocorrosion (i.e. direct metal-to-microbe electron transfer) is a recently recognized, highly aggressive form of microbial metal corrosion. Methanobacterium subterraneum strain YSL grows as an electron accepting partner in direct interspecies electron transfer, suggesting that it might have the capacity for electrobiocorrosion. To evaluate this possibility, strain YSL was grown with either pure Fe⁰, which abiotically generates H₂, or 316L stainless steel, which does not generate H₂, as the sole potential electron donor. There was a steady accumulation of H₂ in uninoculated controls with Fe⁰. No H₂ was detected in strain YSL cultures with Fe⁰. Rather, strain YSL produced methane at a rate consistent with conversion of the H₂ abiotically generated from Fe⁰ to methane. Strain YSL did not produce methane in incubations with stainless steel. These results indicated that strain YSL relies on H₂ as an intermediary electron carrier between Fe⁰ and cells, a result in conflict with the previous report that strain YSL was incapable of H₂ utilization. Further investigation revealed that strain YSL can grow on H₂, but more than 50-fold slower than is typical for other Methanobacterium strains. Genomic analysis revealed that mutations in genes for seven subunits of Eha, the primary energy-converting hydrogenase of Methanobacterium species, likely disabled its function in strain YSL. Proteomic analysis suggested that a compensatory high expression of cytoplasmic hydrogenases enabled slow growth on H₂. These studies highlight the importance of analyzing slow metabolic capabilities, which are difficult to detect with standard methods yet can have significant environmental consequences.
- microbial corrosion /
- electrobiocorrosion /
- Methanobacterium /
- hydrogen metabolism /
- methane production

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REFERENCES

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Zheng S., Li X., Liu F., et al. (2025). Mechanisms utilized by Methanobacterium sp. YSL for growth on zero-valent iron. The Innovation Geoscience 3:100166. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2025.100166

Zheng S., Li X., Liu F., et al. (2025). Mechanisms utilized by Methanobacterium sp. YSL for growth on zero-valent iron. The Innovation Geoscience 3:100166. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-geo.2025.100166

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Mechanisms utilized by Methanobacterium sp. YSL for growth on zero-valent iron

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

PUBLIC SUMMARY

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