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Methanogens in the Gastro-Intestinal Tract of Animals

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(Endo)symbiotic Methanogenic Archaea

Part of the book series: Microbiology Monographs ((MICROMONO,volume 19))

Abstract

Nearly all vertebrates host methanogens in their gastro-intestinal tracts. However, a great fraction of vertebrates emits only traces of methane from their faeces (∼1 nmol/g faeces/h) and has no significant amounts of methane in their breath. In contrast, many animals host some 100 times more methanogens in their gastro-intestinal tract and emit methane in their breath. These substantial differences are not caused by different feeding habits; rather a genetic factor controls the presence of large amounts of methanogens. The attribute “methane production” is evolutionarily stable, and the loss of this character obeys Dollo’s law: once lost in the course of evolution, this character cannot be acquired another time.

Also invertebrates can host methanogens in their gastro-intestinal tract. In contrast to the vertebrates, only a few taxa of arthropods emit methane: millipedes, termites, cockroaches and scarab beetles. All other arthropods in our study did not emit methane and did not host even traces of methanogens. As in vertebrates, the diet of the animals is not crucial for the presence of methanogens. Again, a genetic factor seems to control the presence or absence of methanogens. Methanogenesis is also a prerequisite for the presence of intestinal anaerobic protozoa with endosymbiotic methanogens, but not for the presence of impressive structural differentiations of the hindgut epithelium, which – in methanogenic taxa – host enormous amounts of methanogens.

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  1. IWWR, Faculty of Science, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Johannes H. P. Hackstein & Theo A. van Alen

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  1. Johannes H. P. Hackstein
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  2. Theo A. van Alen
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Correspondence to Johannes H. P. Hackstein .

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  1. Faculty of Science, University of Nijmegen, POB 9010, Nijmegen, 6500 GL, Netherlands

    Johannes H.P. Hackstein

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Hackstein, J.H.P., van Alen, T.A. (2010). Methanogens in the Gastro-Intestinal Tract of Animals. In: Hackstein, J. (eds) (Endo)symbiotic Methanogenic Archaea. Microbiology Monographs, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13615-3_8

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