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Email the Director :
John Leigh, Ph.D.
leighj@u.washington.edu
Methanogenesis
The flammable gas methane is the product of the energy-generating metabolism of the methanogenic Archaea. Most of the methanogenesis on earth occurs in anaerobic habitats where intermediates in the breakdown of organic matter are converted to methane. You can observe the accumulation of methane in sediments in the Volta experiment. Some methanogenesis on earth today (and perhaps most of it on the ancient earth) occurs in geothermal habitats such as hydrothermal vents. This diagram shows the pathway for methanogenesis by the "hydrogenotrophic" methanogens, which use the substrates hydrogen and carbon dioxide to make methane.