Abstract
The ability to fix nitrogen (N2) is found among a wide variety of the prokaryotic eubacteria, but not in eukaryotes1. In addition to the prokaryotic eubacteria and eukaryotes, a third ‘kingdom’—the archchaebacteria—has been defined based on the comparison of 16S ribosomal oligonucleotide sequence catalogues2,3. Included in the archaebacterial kingdom are certain obligate halophiles and thermoacidophiles, and the methanogens, strictly anaerobic, methane-producing bacteria4. Here we report diazotrophy by an archaebacterium, the methanogen Methanosarcina barkeri strain 227. Because it has been proposed that the archaebacteria, eubacteria and eukaryotes diverged at an early stage in evolution2,3, the discovery of diazotrophy (N2 fixation) in a member of the archaebacterial group raises interesting evolutionary questions.1
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Postgate, J. R. The Fundamentals of Nitrogen Fixation (Cambridge University Press, 1982).
Woese, C. R., Magrum, L. J. & Fox, G. E. J. molec. Evol. 11, 245–252 (1978).
Fox, G. E., Magrum, L. J., Balch, W. E., Wolfe, R. S. & Woese, C. R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 4537–4541 (1977).
Balch, W. E., Fox, G. E., Magrum, L. J., Woese, C. R. & Wolfe, R. S. Microbiol. Rev. 43, 260–296 (1979).
Zinder, S. H. & Mah, R. A. Appl. envir. Microbiol. 38, 996–1008 (1979).
Murray, P. A. & Zinder, S. H. 83rd An. Meet. Am. Soc. Microbiol., Abstr. (American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 1983).
Kenealy, W. R., Thompson, T. E., Schubert, K. R. & Zeikus, J. G. J. Bact. 150, 1357–1365 (1982).
Bryant, M. P., Tzeng, S. F., Robinson, I. M. & Joyner, A. E. Adv. Chem. 105, 23–40 (1971).
Mah, R. A., Smith, M. R. & Baresi, L. Appl. envir. Microbiol. 35, 1174–1184 (1978).
Sprott, G. D., Jarrell, K. F., Shaw, K. M. & Knowles, R. J. gen. Microbiol. 128, 2453–2462 (1982).
Bremner, J. M. in Methods of Soil Analysis Pt 2 (eds Black, C. A. et al.) 1256–1286 (American Society of Agronomy, Madison, 1965).
Belay, N., Sparling, R. & Daniels, C. Nature 312, 286–288 (1984).
Ruvkun, G. B. & Ausubel, F. M. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 191–195 (1980).
Bradford, M. M. Analyt. Biochem. 72, 248–254 (1976).
Porter, L. K. & O'Deen, W. A. Analyt. Chem. 49, 514–516 (1977).
Zeikus, J. G. Bact. Rev. 41, 514–541 (1977).
Zinder, S. H., Cardwell, S. C., Anguish, T., Lee, M. & Koch, M. Appl. envir. Microbiol. 47, 796–807 (1984).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Murray, P., Zinder, S. Nitrogen fixation by a methanogenic archaebacterium. Nature 312, 284–286 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/312284a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/312284a0
This article is cited by
-
Archaea: An Agro-Ecological Perspective
Current Microbiology (2021)
-
Responses of Methanosarcina barkeri to acetate stress
Biotechnology for Biofuels (2019)
-
The complete genome sequence of the rumen methanogen Methanosarcina barkeri CM1
Standards in Genomic Sciences (2015)
-
Archaea — timeline of the third domain
Nature Reviews Microbiology (2011)
-
Metagenomic analysis of a permafrost microbial community reveals a rapid response to thaw
Nature (2011)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.