Research Interests:

The overall goal of the research in our laboratory is to investigate the molecular basis of methane production by environmental microorganisms. In particular, our laboratory uses biochemical and genetic approaches and recombinant DNA technology to understand the function of genes involved in the biosynthesis of methanopterin, a folate analog that is critical for biological methane production. Our research has used the information in the sequenced genomes of organisms as well as the bacterial genetics system of Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 to discover the functions of these genes and enzymes in biological methanogenesis. The specific objectives of the current research project are 1. To investigate the structure and function of the key methanopterin biosynthesis enzyme RFAP synthase using site-directed mutagenesis, and to characterize the activity of divergent RFAP synthase paralogs found in hyperthermophilic archaea; 2. To biochemically characterize the evolutionarily distinct dihydromethanopterin reductases from bacteria and archaea; 3. To determine the specific functions of additional bacterial genes previously shown to be required for the biosynthesis of the methanopterin analog in M. extorquens.