Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 megatonnes of methane per year and researchers have paid attention to their natural ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas into usable fuel. But scientists know very little about how the complex reaction occurs, limiting the ability to use this double benefit in different applications.
By studying the enzyme, the bacteria use to catalyse the reaction, a team at Northwestern University has now discovered key structures that may drive this process, which ultimately could lead to the development of human-made biological catalysts that convert methane gas into methanol.
“Methane has a powerful [chemical] bond, so it’s pretty remarkable there’s an enzyme that can do this,” said Northwestern’s Amy Rosenzweig. “If we don’t understand exactly how the enzyme performs this difficult chemistry, we cannot engineer and optimise it for biotechnological applications.”
According to the researchers, the enzyme, called particulate...