taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

, the Methanobacteria are a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of the

Euryarchaeota Euryarchaeota (from Ancient Greek ''εὐρύς'' eurús, "broad, wide") is a phylum of archaea. Euryarchaeota are highly diverse and include methanogens, which produce methane and are often found in intestines, halobacteria, which survive extre ...

. Several of the classes of the Euryarchaeota are

methanogen Methanogens are microorganisms that produce methane as a metabolic byproduct in hypoxic conditions. They are prokaryotic and belong to the domain Archaea. All known methanogens are members of the archaeal phylum Euryarchaeota. Methanogens are com ...

s and the Methanobacteria are one of these classes.

Applications

Methanobacteria can be used in biomass conversion as well as energy production through Anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Microbial community is used in Anaerobic digestion(AD) to convert organic wastes into clean energy by reducing chemical and biological oxygen demand in the wastes. Solid-state anaerobic digestion, which contains six genera of methanogens including Methanobacteria, can ferment rice straw and then produce methane. Since conventional treatment is burning rice straw in field, applying Methanobacteria to waste disposal process can reduce the air pollution caused by straw burning and also alleviate energy shortage problem, especially in rural areas. During biomethanation process, insoluble organic material and higher molecular mass compounds will first be transformed into simple carbon compounds. These break-down products will then be fermented to acetic acid, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Eventually, the acetic acids can be fermented by different methanogenic bacteria to produce methane. The product of Methanobacteria in human body can be used to test diseases. Methane in breath is produced by anaerobic methanobacteria in human colon as a metabolic end product. The status of Methanobacteria product detected in breath tests can be used to evaluate patients' particular gastrointestinal disorders. It is shown that the proportion of breath methane excreters among patients with colorectal cancer is much higher than that of normal people. However, methane breath status might be influenced by variable factors existing in diagnostic procedures, limiting the usage of breath methane test in cancer diagnosis.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1136630 Archaea classes Euryarchaeota

Applications

See also

References

Further reading

Scientific journals

Scientific books

Scientific databases

External links