The catalytic mechanism for aerobic formation of methane by bacteria

Abstract

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is produced in significant quantities by aerobic marine organisms¹. These bacteria apparently catalyse the formation of methane through the cleavage of the highly unreactive carbon–phosphorus bond in methyl phosphonate (MPn), but the biological or terrestrial source of this compound is unclear². However, the ocean-dwelling bacterium Nitrosopumilus maritimus catalyses the biosynthesis of MPn from 2-hydroxyethyl phosphonate³ and the bacterial C–P lyase complex is known to convert MPn to methane^4,5,6,7. In addition to MPn, the bacterial C–P lyase complex catalyses C–P bond cleavage of many alkyl phosphonates when the environmental concentration of phosphate is low^4,5,6,7. PhnJ from the C–P lyase complex catalyses an unprecedented C–P bond cleavage reaction of ribose-1-phosphonate-5-phosphate to methane and ribose-1,2-cyclic-phosphate-5-phosphate. This reaction requires a redox-active [4Fe–4S]-cluster and S-adenosyl-l-methionine, which is reductively cleaved to l-methionine and 5′-deoxyadenosine⁸. Here we show that PhnJ is a novel radical S-adenosyl-l-methionine enzyme that catalyses C–P bond cleavage through the initial formation of a 5′-deoxyadenosyl radical and two protein-based radicals localized at Gly 32 and Cys 272. During this transformation, the pro-R hydrogen from Gly 32 is transferred to the 5′-deoxyadenosyl radical to form 5′-deoxyadenosine and the pro-S hydrogen is transferred to the radical intermediate that ultimately generates methane. A comprehensive reaction mechanism is proposed for cleavage of the C–P bond by the C–P lyase complex that uses a covalent thiophosphate intermediate for methane and phosphate formation.