Methanobrevibacter

Methanobrevibacter
Methanobrevibacter ruminantium, type species of the genus Methanobrevibacter (type strain M1, ATCC 35063; DSM 1093; JCM 13430), phase-contrast photo.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Archaea
Kingdom: Methanobacteriati
Phylum: Methanobacteriota
Class: Methanobacteria
Order: Methanobacteriales
Family: Methanobacteriaceae
Genus: Methanobrevibacter
Balch and Wolfe 1981
Type species
Methanobrevibacter ruminantium
(Smith & Hungate 1958) Balch & Wolfe 1981
Species

See text

Methanobrevibacter is a genus of archaea in the family Methanobacteriaceae. The species within Methanobrevibacter genus are strictly anaerobic and produce methane through the reduction of carbon dioxide via hydrogen with some also able to utulize formate. Methanobrevibacter species exclusively inhabit digestive tract of various animals such as cattle, termites, and primates including humans. As part of cattle gut microbiome, Methanobrevibacter species responsible for about 20% of annual methane emission to the atmosphere.

Nomenclature

The name Methanobrevibacter has Latin and Greek roots. Methanum is Latin for methane, brevi is Latin for short, and bacter is Greek for bar or rod. This word typically describes these bacteria which are short, rod shaped and produce methane.

Professional publications use the abbreviations M., Mbb., and Mbr., as in M. smithii, Mbb. smithii, and Mbr. smithii.

Phylogeny

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

16S rRNA based LTP_07_2026 53 marker proteins based GTDB 11-RS232
Methanobrevibacter

"Methanacia filiformis" (Leadbetter, Crosby & Breznak 1998) Protasov & Brune 2023

"Methanoflexus"

"M. curvatus" (Leadbetter & Breznak 1997) Protasov & Brune 2023

"Ca. M. mossambicus" Protasov & Brune 2023

"Methanovirga"

"M. aequatorialis" Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. basalitermitum" Protasov & Brune 2023

"Ca. M. meridionalis" Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. australis" Protasov & Brune 2023

"Ca. M. procula" Protasov & Brune 2023

"Methanorudis spinitermitis" Protasov & Brune 2023

"Methanobaculum cuticulare" (Leadbetter & Breznak 1997) Protasov & Brune 2023

"Methanobinarius"

"M. arboriphilicus" corrig. (Zeikus & Henning 1975) Protasov & Brune 2023

"Ca. M. endosymbioticus" Protasov & Brune 2023

Methanobrevibacter_A

Methanobrevibacter acididurans Savant et al. 2002

"Methanarmilla"

"M. boviskoreani" (Lee et al. 2013) Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. wolinii" (Miller & Lin 2002) Protasov & Brune 2023

Methanobrevibacter

M. olleyae Rea et al. 2007

M. ruminantium (Smith & Hungate 1958) Balch & Wolfe 1981

"Methanocatella"

"M. woesei" (Miller & Lin 2002) Protasov & Brune 2023

Methanobrevibacter intestini Weinberger et al. 2025

"M. smithii" (Balch & Wolfe 1981) Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. oralis" (Ferrari et al. 1995) Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. millerae" (Rea et al. 2007) Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. gottschalkii" (Miller & Lin 2002) Protasov & Brune 2023

"M. thaueri" (Miller & Lin 2002) Protasov & Brune 2023

The GTDB tree shows named species represented in R11-RS232; accession-based placeholder species are omitted. Quoted genus names are genome-based names used by GTDB and are not validly published replacements for Methanobrevibacter under the ICNP. The suffix "_A" is a GTDB cluster identifier.

Unassigned species:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 C.L. Schoch. "Methanobrevibacter". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database. Retrieved 2026-08-01.
  2. ↑ Protasov, Evgenii; Mies, Undine S.; Spröer, Cathrin; Bunk, Boyke; Treitli, Sebastian Cristian; Platt, Katja; Brune, Andreas (2026-05-02). "Convergent evolution of intestinal lineages in the phylum Methanobacteriota". Microbiome. 14 (1): 130. doi:10.1186/s40168-026-02434-5. ISSN 2049-2618. PMC 13135261. PMID 42070045.
  3. ↑ Saunois, Marielle; Martinez, Adrien; Poulter, Benjamin; Zhang, Zhen; Raymond, Peter A.; Regnier, Pierre; Canadell, Josep G.; Jackson, Robert B.; Patra, Prabir K.; Bousquet, Philippe; Ciais, Philippe; Dlugokencky, Edward J.; Lan, Xin; Allen, George H.; Bastviken, David (2025-05-09). "Global Methane Budget 2000–2020". Earth System Science Data. 17 (5): 1873–1958. Bibcode:2025ESSD...17.1873S. doi:10.5194/essd-17-1873-2025. hdl:2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/318878. ISSN 1866-3508.
  4. ↑ David R. Boone; Richard W. Castenholz, eds. (2012-01-13). Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. Vol. 1 (2 ed.). Nueva York: Springer Science and Business Media. p. 218. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-21609-6 (inactive 17 May 2026). ISBN 978-1-4419-3159-7. S2CID 41426624. Retrieved 2016-07-24.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of May 2026 (link)
  5. ↑ R. Mathur; M. Amachai; K.S. Chua; J. Mirocha; G.M. Barlow; M. Pimentel (2013-03-23). "Methane and hydrogen positivity on breath test is associated with greater body mass index and body fat". Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 98 (4): E698–E702. doi:10.1210/jc.2012-3144. PMC 3615195. PMID 23533244.
  6. ↑ L.C. Skillman; P.N. Evans; C. Strömpl; K.N. Joblin (2006-03-04). "16S rDNA directed PCR primers and detection of methanogens in the bovine rumen". Lett Appl Microbiol. 42 (3): 222–228. doi:10.1111/j.1472-765X.2005.01833.x. PMID 16478508. S2CID 25989690.
  7. ↑ Abhijit S. Dighe; Kamlesh Jangid; José M González; Vyankatesh J. Pidiyar; Milind S Patole; Dilip R. Ranade; Yogesh S. Shouche (2004-05-20). "Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences of genus Methanobrevibacter". BMC Microbiol. 4 (1) 20. Bibcode:2004BMCMb...4...20D. doi:10.1186/1471-2180-4-20. PMC 415545. PMID 15128464.
  8. ↑ Methanobrevibacter in LPSN; Freese, H. M.; Meier-Kolthoff, J. P.; Sardà Carbasse, J.; Afolayan, A. O.; Göker, M. (2026). "TYGS and LPSN in 2025: a Global Core Biodata Resource for genome-based classification and nomenclature of prokaryotes within DSMZ Digital Diversity". Nucleic Acids Research. 54 (D1): D884–D891. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf1110.
  9. ↑ "The LTPlus". The All-Species Living Tree Project. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "LTP_all tree in newick format". The All-Species Living Tree Project. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  11. ↑ Rossello-Mora, Ramon; Viver, Tomeu; Palmer-Rodríguez, Pere; Westram, Ralf; Bustos-Caparros, Esteban; Gago, Joan Francisco; Gonzalez-Mendez, Jaime; Llabrés, Mercè; Ludwig, Wolfgang; Amann, Rudolf (22 April 2026). "A pipeline for improved 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny and diversity analyses of Bacteria and Archaea". Nature Portfolio. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9370187/v1.
  12. ↑ "GTDB release 11-RS232". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "ar53_r232.sp_label". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "Taxon History". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2026.

Further reading

Scientific journals

Dighe, Abhigit S; Jangid, Kamlesh; Gonzalez, Jose M; Pidiyar, Vyankatesh J; Patole, Milind S; Ranade, Dilip R; Shouche, Yogesh S (May 5, 2004). "Comparison of 16S rRNA gene sequences of genus Methanobrevibacter". BMC Microbiology. 4 (1): 20. Bibcode:2004BMCMb...4...20D. doi:10.1186/1471-2180-4-20. PMC 415545. PMID 15128464.