Distribution of polyamines in methanogenic bacteria.
Members of all four families of methanogenic bacteria were analyzed for polyamine concentrations. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of dansylated cell extracts revealed typical polyamine patterns for each family. Members of Methanobacteriaceae (family I) were characterized by very low polyamine concentrations; members of Methanococcaceae (family II) were characterized by putrescine and high spermidine concentrations; members of Methanomicrobiaceae (family III) were characterized by the presence of putrescine, spermidine, and sym-homospermidine; and members of Methanosarcinaceae (family IV) contained only high concentrations of sym-homospermidine in addition to putrescine. The highest polyamine concentration was found in Methanosarcina barkeri Jülich, with 0.35% putrescine in the dry cell material. The polyamine distribution found coincides with the dendrogram based on comparative cataloguing of 16S rRNA and offers a new, rapid chemotaxonomic method for characterizing methanogenic bacteria. Variation of the growth substrates (H2-CO2, methanol, acetate, and trimethylamine) for M. barkeri resulted in quantitative but not qualitative differences in polyamine composition.
D000085:Acetates / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D019605:Euryarchaeota / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D000432:Methanol / Q000378:metabolism; D008744:Methylamines / Q000378:metabolism; D011700:Putrescine / Q000032:analysis*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013095:Spermidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis*
D000085:Acetates; D008744:Methylamines; C007961:sym-homospermidine; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D006859:Hydrogen; C023336:trimethylamine; D013095:Spermidine; D011700:Putrescine; D000432:Methanol