Methanosarcinaceae
In taxonomy, the Methanosarcinaceae are a family of the Methanosarcinales.[1] PhylogenyThe currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)[2] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)[1]
BiochemistryA notable trait of Methanosarcinaceae is that they are methanogens that incorporate the unusual amino acid pyrrolysine into their enzymes.[9] The enzyme monomethylamine methyltransferase catalyzes the reaction of monomethylamine to methane. This enzyme includes pyrrolysine. The unusual amino acid is inserted using a unique tRNA, the anticodon of which is UAG. In most organisms, and in most Methanosarcinaceae proteins, UAG is a stop codon. However in this enzyme, and anywhere else pyrrolysine is incorporated, likely through contextual markers on the mRNA, the pyrrolysine-loaded tRNA is inserted instead of the release factor. They also have a unique aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase to specifically load this tRNA with pyrrolysine. This unique adaptation is still the subject of significant study. See alsoReferences
Further readingScientific journals
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