Phylogeny of Methanosarcina MtaA and MtbA proteins. Unrooted neighbor-joining tree generated by the DrawTree program (http://workbench.sdsc.edu) (13, 22, 42) for the MtaA1 (red), MtaA2 (green), and MtbA (blue) proteins from M. acetivorans (Ma), M. mazei (Mm), and M. barkeri (Mb) are shown. Note that in all cases the individual isozymes in the three Methanosarcina spp. are more similar to each other than they are to other isozymes found in the same organism. The M. barkeri MtaA1 protein is an exception as it is more similar to the MtaA2 isozymes from the three Methanosarcina spp.