Metabolic Potential for Reductive Acetogenesis and a Novel Energy-Converting [NiFe] Hydrogenase in From Termite Guts - A Genome-Centric Analysis.

Symbiotic digestion of lignocellulose in the hindgut of higher termites is mediated by a diverse assemblage of bacteria and archaea. During a large-scale metagenomic study, we reconstructed 15 metagenome-assembled genomes of that represent two distinct lineages in subgroup 6 (formerly MCG-6) unique to termite guts. One lineage (TB2; Termitimicrobium) encodes all enzymes required for reductive acetogenesis from CO via an archaeal variant of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, involving tetrahydromethanopterin as C carrier and an (ADP-forming) acetyl-CoA synthase.