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Up-to-date, and taxonomy-curated mcrA reference databases for methanogen community profiling
Sotirios Vasileiadis1, Marios I Valmas1, Dimitra S Pitsikoglou2
1Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
Systematic and Applied Microbiology
|July 17, 2026
Summary
Updated methyl-coenzyme M reductase subunit alpha gene (mcrA) databases enhance the ecological profiling of methanogenic archaea. These resources improve characterization of methane producers crucial for industrial applications and understanding greenhouse gas emissions.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genomics
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- The methyl-coenzyme M reductase subunit alpha gene (mcrA) is a key phylogenetic marker for methanogenic archaea.
- Existing mcrA reference databases are outdated, not reflecting current sequence data or taxonomic revisions.
- Accurate mcrA databases are essential for studying methane production and greenhouse gas emissions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop updated and expanded mcrA reference databases for improved methanogen ecological profiling.
- To enhance the characterization of methanogen diversity and its ecological relevance.
- To provide resources compatible with contemporary bioinformatic analysis pipelines.
Main Methods:
- Compilation of mcrA sequences from NCBI-catalogued methanogen genomes.
- Expansion of a previous reference dataset using the NCBI nucleotide collection.
- Creation of a curated-taxonomy version of the expanded database.
- Formatting databases for compatibility with standard bioinformatic software.
Main Results:
- Three novel mcrA reference databases were generated, offering significant sequence and taxonomic richness expansion.
- Genus-level richness increased from 31 to 83 taxa, and species-level richness more than quadrupled.
- Novel lineages, including those within Thermoplasmatota, were incorporated, surpassing previous reference datasets.
Conclusions:
- The updated mcrA databases significantly improve the characterization of methanogen diversity and ecology.
- These resources facilitate more accurate high-throughput ecological profiling of methanogenic archaea.
- The enhanced databases are vital for research in biological methane production and greenhouse gas dynamics.
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