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An Ancient Pathway Combining Carbon Dioxide Fixation with the Generation and Utilization of a Sodium Ion Gradient for ATP Synthesis
Open accessAbstract
Synthesis of acetate from carbon dioxide and molecular hydrogen is considered to be the first carbon assimilation pathway on earth. It combines carbon dioxide fixation into acetyl-CoA with the production of ATP via an energized cell membrane. How the pathway is coupled with the net synthesis of ATP has been an enigma. The anaerobic, acetogenic bacterium Acetobacterium woodii uses an ancient version of this pathway without cytochromes and quinones. It generates a sodium ion potential across the cell membrane by the sodium-motive ferredoxin:NAD oxidoreductase (Rnf). The genome sequence of A. woodii solves the enigma: it uncovers Rnf as the only ion-motive enzyme coupled to the pathway and unravels a metabolism designed to produce reduced ferredoxin and overcome energetic barriers by virtue of electron-bifurcating, soluble enzymes.
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![Figure 1 The enzymes of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway (a) and the corresponding gene cluster (b). Cluster I: two genes for formate dehydrogenase (fdhF) are organized together with three copies of a FeS-containing subunit of a [FeFe]-hydrogenase (hycB), a formate dehydrogenase accessory protein (fdhD) and another subunit of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase (hydA2). Cluster II: genes for formyl-THF synthetase (fhs1), methenyl-THF cyclohydrolase (fchA), methylene-THF dehydrogenase (folD) and methylene-THF reductase (metF, metV) are organized together with a RnfC-similar protein (rnfC2). Cluster III: genes for the subunits of the CO dehydrogenase/acetyl CoA synthase complex consisting of CO dehydrogenase (acsA), acetyl-CoA synthase (acsB1), corrinoid-iron sulfur protein (acsCD) and methyltransferase (acsE) are organized together with two copies of a CODH nickel-insertion accessory protein (cooC), a corrinoid activation/regeneration protein (acsV) and two hypothetical proteins (Orf1 and Orf2).](/paper-figures/d0f4caa28a5f4bb0910b7bfb955b9d67/an-ancient-pathway-combining-carbon-dioxide-fixation-with-the-generation-and-figure-1.jpg)
![Figure 2 Genetic organization and subunit composition of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase of A. woodii. Awo_c27000 (HydE) is not a component of the active enzyme but may be involved in assembly or signalling.](/paper-figures/56d41b52c3bf45b7859ae4331c909c70/an-ancient-pathway-combining-carbon-dioxide-fixation-with-the-generation-and-figure-2.jpg)




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“Acetogens that lack cytochromes use their version of the WL-pathway to make methyl-H4F, as sketched in figure 3b, which is modified from Pohlein et al. [146] and Buckel & Thauer [143] for Acetobacterium woodii.”
From Early bioenergetic evolution (2013) · cites this paper as [146]
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Energy conservation in chemotrophic anaerobic bacteria
Thauer, R. K., Jungermann, K., & Decker, K. (1977) · Bacteriological Reviews · doi:10.1128/br.41.1.100-180.1977 · Cited by 4,146
Self-citationCDD: a conserved domain database for interactive domain family analysis
Marchler‐Bauer, A., Anderson, J. B., Derbyshire, M. K., DeWeese-Scott, C., Gonzales, N. R., Gwadz, M., Hao, L., He, S., Hurwitz, D. I., Jackson, J. D., et al. (2006) · Nucleic Acids Research · doi:10.1093/nar/gkl951 · Cited by 851
On the origin of biochemistry at an alkaline hydrothermal vent
Martin, W., & Russell, M. J. (2007) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1881 · Cited by 771
Clostridium ljungdahlii represents a microbial production platform based on syngas
Köpke, M., Held, C., Hujer, S., Liesegang, H., Wiezer, A., Wollherr, A., Ehrenreich, A., Liebl, W., Gottschalk, G., & Dürre, P. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1004716107 · Cited by 660
Self-citationThe Autotrophic Pathway of Acetate Synthesis in Acetogenic Bacteria
Ljungdhal, L. G. (1986) · Annual Review of Microbiology · doi:10.1146/annurev.mi.40.100186.002215 · Cited by 575
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Li, F., Hinderberger, J., Seedorf, H., Zhang, J., Buckel, W., & Thauer, R. K. (2008) · Journal of Bacteriology · doi:10.1128/jb.01417-07 · Cited by 420
Self-citationEnergy conservation via electron-transferring flavoprotein in anaerobic bacteria
Herrmann, G., Jayamani, E., Mai, G., & Buckel, W. (2008) · Journal of Bacteriology · doi:10.1128/jb.01422-07 · Cited by 407
Enzymology of the Wood–Ljungdahl Pathway of Acetogenesis
Ragsdale, S. W. (2008) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1419.015 · Cited by 405
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- F Li, 2008, Coupled ferredoxin and crotonyl coenzyme A (CoA) reduction with NADH catalyzed by the butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase/Etf complex from Clostridium kluyveri., J Bacteriol, 190, 843, 10.1128/JB.01417-07 · DOI · Paper page
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Schuchmann, K., & Müller, V. (2014) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/nrmicro3365 · Cited by 845
Self-citationBuckel, W., & Thauer, R. K. (2013) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics · doi:10.1016/j.bbabio.2012.07.002 · Cited by 797
Self-citationKracke, F., Vassilev, I., & Krömer, J. O. (2015) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2015.00575 · Cited by 748
Cross-feeding in the gut microbiome: Ecology and mechanisms
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Metadata
- Authors
- Poehlein, A., Schmidt, S., Kaster, A.-K., Goenrich, M., Vollmers, J., Thürmer, A., Bertsch, J., Schuchmann, K., Voigt, B., Hecker, M., Daniel, R., Thauer, R. K., Gottschalk, G., & Müller, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (DE)
- Universität Greifswald (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Müller, Volker
- ORCID
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2012-03-29
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e33439
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3315566
- OpenAlex
- W2091506898
- Cited by
- 274
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 11.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Publication Server of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (Goethe University Frankfurt) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial metabolism and enzyme function
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Microbial Fuel Cells and Bioremediation
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Production
- Keywords
- acetate production, CO2 fixation, molecular hydrogen, Acetobacterium woodii, acetogenesis, ATP production, electron bifurcation, ferredoxin, acetyl-CoA, membrane potential, genome sequence
- MeSH terms
- Acetyl Coenzyme A, Adenosine Triphosphate, Bacterial Proteins, Carbon Dioxide, Cell Membrane, Energy Metabolism, Ferredoxins, Models, Biological, Oxidation-Reduction, Oxidoreductases, Sodium, Genome, Bacterial, Acetobacterium, Biosynthetic Pathways, Carbon Cycle
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