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. 1980 Feb;141(2):694–698. doi: 10.1128/jb.141.2.694-698.1980

Origin of hydrogen in methane produced by Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum.

L Daniels, G Fulton, R W Spencer, W H Orme-Johnson
PMCID: PMC293677  PMID: 7364716

Abstract

The production of deuterated methane by Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum in H2O-D2O mixtures was examined by high-resolution mass spectrometry. The hydrogen in the methane arose solely from water and not from hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas served only as an electron source in methanogenesis. A whole-cell product isotope discrimination of 1.5 favoring hydrogen over deuterium was observed in methane production in 81 atom% deuterated water. The distribution of deuterated methane species is described by a simple model of the overall reaction.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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