Chapter 20.3, Problem 2CC

Summary Introduction

Microorganisms generating methane as a metabolic by-product in a hypoxic environment are known as methanogens. Methanogens are prokaryotic organisms belong to the domain Archaea, a group phylogenetically differs from both bacteria and eukaryotes. The growth yields of most methanogens are very low compared to the aerobic microorganism. This is because, methanogenesis (a process that forms methane by methanogens) occurs only in obligate anaerobic conditions, where oxygen and other electron acceptors are actually not available. As a result, methanogens grow gradually compared to aerobic organisms. Methanogens possess numerous unusual cofactors that are involved in methanogenesis.