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Science 14 December 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5857, pp. 1782 - 1786
DOI: 10.1126/science.1149976
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Reports

A 3-Hydroxypropionate/4-Hydroxybutyrate Autotrophic Carbon Dioxide Assimilation Pathway in Archaea

Ivan A. Berg,1 Daniel Kockelkorn,1 Wolfgang Buckel,2 Georg Fuchs1*

The assimilation of carbon dioxide (CO2) into organic material is quantitatively the most important biosynthetic process. We discovered that an autotrophic member of the archaeal order Sulfolobales, Metallosphaera sedula, fixed CO2 with acetyl–coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA)/propionyl-CoA carboxylase as the key carboxylating enzyme. In this system, one acetyl-CoA and two bicarbonate molecules were reductively converted via 3-hydroxypropionate to succinyl-CoA. This intermediate was reduced to 4-hydroxybutyrate and converted into two acetyl-CoA molecules via 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase. The key genes of this pathway were found not only in Metallosphaera but also in Sulfolobus, Archaeoglobus, and Cenarchaeum species. Moreover, the Global Ocean Sampling database contains half as many 4-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase sequences as compared with those found for another key photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase. This indicates the importance of this enzyme in global carbon cycling.

1 Mikrobiologie, Fakultät Biologie, Universität Freiburg, Schänzlestraße 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
2 Mikrobiologie, Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Marburg, D-35032 Marburg, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: georg.fuchs{at}biologie.uni-freiburg.de

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Comment on "A 3-Hydroxypropionate/4-Hydroxybutyrate Autotrophic Carbon Dioxide Assimilation Pathway in Archaea".
T. J. G. Ettema and S. G. E. Andersson (2008)
Science 321, 342b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "A 3-Hydroxypropionate/4-Hydroxybutyrate Autotrophic Carbon Dioxide Assimilation Pathway in Archaea".
I. A. Berg, D. Kockelkorn, W. Buckel, and G. Fuchs (2008)
Science 321, 342c
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Genome of Heliobacterium modesticaldum, a Phototrophic Representative of the Firmicutes Containing the Simplest Photosynthetic Apparatus.
W. M. Sattley, M. T. Madigan, W. D. Swingley, P. C. Cheung, K. M. Clocksin, A. L. Conrad, L. C. Dejesa, B. M. Honchak, D. O. Jung, L. E. Karbach, et al. (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 4687-4696
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A dicarboxylate/4-hydroxybutyrate autotrophic carbon assimilation cycle in the hyperthermophilic Archaeum Ignicoccus hospitalis.
H. Huber, M. Gallenberger, U. Jahn, E. Eylert, I. A. Berg, D. Kockelkorn, W. Eisenreich, and G. Fuchs (2008)
PNAS 105, 7851-7856
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)