Methanococcus maripaludis Raw sequence reads. Methanococcus maripaludis

The archaeal model organism Methanococcus maripaludis JJ is known to utilize selenium in its primary energy metabolism, the hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Selenium is incorporated into selenocysteine-(Sec-) containing enzymes (selenoproteins) which are essential in methanogenesis. In case of a selenium-depleted environment, the type strain M. maripaludis JJ employs a second set of enzymes containing cysteine (Cys) instead of Sec. So far, the genes coding for these Sec-/Cys-containing isoforms are the only genes known with expression influenced by the selenium status of the cell. Utilizing transcriptomics the selenium-responsive regulon has been assessed.