Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology
Production of methane by methanogenic archaea, or methanogens, in the rumen of ruminants is a thermodynamic necessity for microbial conversion of feed to volatile fatty acids, which are essential nutrients for the animals. On the other hand, methane is a greenhouse gas and its production causes ener...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1296008/full |
| _version_ | 1797635383783063552 |
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| author | Bela Haifa Khairunisa Christian Heryakusuma Christian Heryakusuma Kelechi Ike Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Dwi Susanti |
| author_facet | Bela Haifa Khairunisa Christian Heryakusuma Christian Heryakusuma Kelechi Ike Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Dwi Susanti |
| author_sort | Bela Haifa Khairunisa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Production of methane by methanogenic archaea, or methanogens, in the rumen of ruminants is a thermodynamic necessity for microbial conversion of feed to volatile fatty acids, which are essential nutrients for the animals. On the other hand, methane is a greenhouse gas and its production causes energy loss for the animal. Accordingly, there are ongoing efforts toward developing effective strategies for mitigating methane emissions from ruminant livestock that require a detailed understanding of the diversity and ecophysiology of rumen methanogens. Rumen methanogens evolved from free-living autotrophic ancestors through genome streamlining involving gene loss and acquisition. The process yielded an oligotrophic lifestyle, and metabolically efficient and ecologically adapted descendants. This specialization poses serious challenges to the efforts of obtaining axenic cultures of rumen methanogens, and consequently, the information on their physiological properties remains in most part inferred from those of their non-rumen representatives. This review presents the current knowledge of rumen methanogens and their metabolic contributions to enteric methane production. It also identifies the respective critical gaps that need to be filled for aiding the efforts to mitigate methane emission from livestock operations and at the same time increasing the productivity in this critical agriculture sector. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:20:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f5ec08625a7646b8b9f2f57d1a4a520a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:20:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f5ec08625a7646b8b9f2f57d1a4a520a2023-11-07T03:21:39ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2023-11-011410.3389/fmicb.2023.12960081296008Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiologyBela Haifa Khairunisa0Christian Heryakusuma1Christian Heryakusuma2Kelechi Ike3Biswarup Mukhopadhyay4Biswarup Mukhopadhyay5Biswarup Mukhopadhyay6Dwi Susanti7Microbial Discovery Research, BiomEdit, Greenfield, IN, United StatesGenetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesDepartment of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesDepartment of Biology, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC, United StatesGenetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesDepartment of Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesVirginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United StatesMicrobial Discovery Research, BiomEdit, Greenfield, IN, United StatesProduction of methane by methanogenic archaea, or methanogens, in the rumen of ruminants is a thermodynamic necessity for microbial conversion of feed to volatile fatty acids, which are essential nutrients for the animals. On the other hand, methane is a greenhouse gas and its production causes energy loss for the animal. Accordingly, there are ongoing efforts toward developing effective strategies for mitigating methane emissions from ruminant livestock that require a detailed understanding of the diversity and ecophysiology of rumen methanogens. Rumen methanogens evolved from free-living autotrophic ancestors through genome streamlining involving gene loss and acquisition. The process yielded an oligotrophic lifestyle, and metabolically efficient and ecologically adapted descendants. This specialization poses serious challenges to the efforts of obtaining axenic cultures of rumen methanogens, and consequently, the information on their physiological properties remains in most part inferred from those of their non-rumen representatives. This review presents the current knowledge of rumen methanogens and their metabolic contributions to enteric methane production. It also identifies the respective critical gaps that need to be filled for aiding the efforts to mitigate methane emission from livestock operations and at the same time increasing the productivity in this critical agriculture sector.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1296008/fullrumenmethanogenmethanegreenhouse gasarchaearuminants |
| spellingShingle | Bela Haifa Khairunisa Christian Heryakusuma Christian Heryakusuma Kelechi Ike Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Biswarup Mukhopadhyay Dwi Susanti Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology Frontiers in Microbiology rumen methanogen methane greenhouse gas archaea ruminants |
| title | Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology |
| title_full | Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology |
| title_fullStr | Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology |
| title_short | Evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology |
| title_sort | evolving understanding of rumen methanogen ecophysiology |
| topic | rumen methanogen methane greenhouse gas archaea ruminants |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1296008/full |
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