Methane Metabolism in a Novel Strain of Exiguobacterium
Esha Prasad
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: José R. de la Torre
Methane is a harmful greenhouse gas that is contributing to global climate change. It can be found in soil and, in high concentrations, affects plant growth. This study aims to identify possible methane metabolism proteins in a strain of Exiguobacterium isolated from the soil at San Francisco State University. This was done using bioinformatics which looked at the organism’s genome to identify its similar pathways and proteins to another Exiguobacterium strain isolated at Bryn-Mawr College. Programs such as KEGG and Geneious allowed us to view the organism’s genome and match proteins to their pathways and functions. Pathways relating to methane metabolism, such as the pentose phosphate pathway, were identified, but many pathways remain unfinished including the one for methane metabolism. This organism does not seem to have a strong connection to extracting methane from the soil, though more research must be done. It does have a large number of unidentified proteins, and this may be significant to building the pathways necessary for methane metabolism.