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Abstract:
Me.tha.no.sar' ci.na. N.L. neut. n. methanum methane; L. fem. n. sarcina a package, bundle; N.L. fem. n. Methanosarcina methane sarcina.
Euryarchaeota / Methanomicrobia / Methanosarcinales / Methanosarcinaceae / Methanosarcina
Irregular spheroid bodies (0.8–4 μm in diameter), occurring singly or typically in aggregates of cells up to 1,000 μm in diameter. Sometimes occur as large cysts with a common outer wall surrounding individual coccoid cells. Endospores not formed. Gram stain results are variable. Nonmotile. May contain gas vesicles. Strictly anaerobic. Optimum growth temperatures are 25–28°C for psychrotolerant species, 30–40°C for mesophilic species, and 50–55°C for thermophiles. Energy metabolism via formation of methane from acetate, methanol, monomethylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, dimethyl sulfide, H2/CO2, and CO. One strain can use methanethiol as substrate. Some strains do not use H2/CO2 as the sole energy and carbon source. May grow very slowly on pyruvate. N2 may be fixed. The range of specific genome information for the genus Methanosarcina according to the available genomes are as follows: Genome size between 3.13 and 5.75 Mb, DNA G + C content between 38.3 and 42.9, protein number between 2,597 and 4,540, gene number between 2,751 and 4,662, pseudogene number between 89 and 417, rRNA number between 9 and 60, and tRNA number between 54 and 58.
DNA G + C content (mol%) : 36–44 (average 40.7 assembled from the genomes).
Type species : Methanosarcina barkeri Schnellen 1947AL emend. Bryant and Boone 1987 (Judicial Commission 1986b).
