Endosymbiotic Association between Methanogens and Hydrogen-Producing Organisms - Hydrogen Hypothesis

Abstract:

Many archaebacteria are strictly dependent upon H₂ for their ATP production. Moreover, for many methanogens (the strictly lithoautotrophic forms), H₂O, CO₂ and acetate are the sole source of both energy and carbon, all of which are waste products of the symbionts anaerobic metabolism. The fact that methanogens associate with hydrogen-producing organisms means endosymbiotic methanogens cling not to free-living eubacteria, but hydrogenosomes themselves in the cytosol of amitochondriate protists. This has given rise to the theory that the eukaryotic cell originated from syntrophic interactions between bacteria and archaea. We call this new hypothesis for the origin of eukaryotic cells as hydrogen hypothesis.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 781-784)
• Pages: 1302-1307
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.781-784.1302
• Online since: September 2013
• Authors: Fang Yin, Wu Di Zhang, Shi Qing Liu, Jing Liu, Zun Xi Huang
• Keywords: Endosymbiotic Association, Hydrogen Hypothesis, Hydrogen-Producing, Methanogens

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