Metabolism of Formate inMethanobacterium formicicum

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Abstract
Methanobacterium formicicumstrain JF-1 was cultured with formate as the sole energy source in a pH-stat fermentor. Growth was exponential, and both methane production and formate consumption were linear functions of the growth rate. Hydrogen was produced in only trace amounts, and the dissolved H2concentration of the culture medium was below 1 μM. The effect of temperature or pH on the rate of methane formation was studied with a single fermentor culture in mid-log phase that was grown with formate under standard conditions at 37°C and pH 7.6. Methane formation from formate occurred over the pH range from 6.5 to 8.6, with a maximum at pH 8.0. The maximum temperature of methanogenesis was 56°C. H2production increased at higher temperatures. Hydrogen and formate were consumed throughout growth when both were present in saturating concentrations. The molar growth yields were 1.2 ± 0.06 g (dry weight) per mol of formate and 4.8 ± 0.24 g (dry weight) per mol of methane. Characteristics were compared for cultures grown with either formate or H2-CO2as the sole energy source at 37°C and pH 7.6; the molar growth yield for methane of formate cultures was 4.8 g (dry weight) per mol, and that of H2-CO2cultures was 3.5 g (dry weight) per mol. Both formate and H2-CO2cultures had low efficiencies of electron transport phosphorylation; formate-cultured cells had greater specific activities of coenzyme F420than did H2-CO2-grown cultures. Hydrogenase, formate dehydrogenase, chromophoric factor F342, and low levels of formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase were present in cells cultured with either substrate. Methyl viologen-dependent formate dehydrogenase was found in the soluble fraction from broken cells.

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