At the methane source of plants: Plants produce greenhouse gas from the amino acid methionine
There are more natural sources of the greenhouse gas methane than previously known to science. Plants are one of these sources. A German-British team led by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and the University of Heidelberg, recently discovered that methane in plants is produced from the amino acid methionine, which all living organisms need for the building of proteins. The scientists also propose a mechanism which could explain the abiotic production of methane, i.e. without the aid of enzymes, in plant cells. Already in 2006, the Max Planck researchers discovered that plants can release the gas. However, it remained unclear how the hydrocarbons were created in the plants. Researchers have now discovered that methane is also released from fungi. Until a few years ago, it was only known that the gas is formed naturally in volcano eruptions, forest fires and by microorganisms which metabolize without...