Acetate thiokinase and the assimilation of acetate in methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum growing on H2 plus CO2 as sole carbon and energy source was found to contain acetate thiokinase (Acetyl CoA synthetase; EC 6.2.1.1); Acetate + ATP + CoA leads to Acetyl CoA + AMP + PPi. The apparent Km value for acetate was 40 microM. Acetate kinase (EC 2.7.2.1) and phosphotransacetylase (EC 2.3.1.8) could not be detected. The specific activity of acetate thiokinase was high in cells grown with limited H2 and CO2 supply (approximately 100 nmol/min . mg protein), it was low in exponentially grown cells (2 nmol/min . mg protein). This corresponded with the finding that cells growing linearly in the presence of acetate assimilated the monocarboxylic acid in high amounts (greater than 10% of the cell carbon was derived from acetate), whereas exponentially growing cells did not (less than 1% of cell carbon was derived from acetate). These latter observations indicated that acetate thiokinase and free acetate are not involved in autotrophic CO2 fixation in M. thermoautotrophicum. The presence and some kinetic properties of succinate thiokinase (EC 6.2.1.5), adenylate kinase (EC 2.7.4.3), and inorganic pyrophosphatase (EC 3.6.1.1) are also described.