Methanobrevibacter smithii
| Methanobrevibacter smithii | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Archaea |
| Phylum: | Euryarchaeota |
| Class: | Methanobacteria |
| Order: | Methanobacteriales |
| Family: | Methanobacteriaceae |
| Genus: | Methanobrevibacter |
| Species: | M. smithii |
| Binomial name | |
|
Methanobrevibacter smithii Balch and Wolfe 1981 |
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Methanobrevibacter smithii is the predominant archaeon in the human gut. It plays an important role in the efficient digestion of polysaccharides (complex sugars) by consuming the end products of bacterial fermentation. Methanobrevibacter smithii is a single-celled microorganism from the Archaea domain. M. smithii is a methanogen, and a hydrogenotroph that recycles the hydrogen by combining it with carbon dioxide to methane. The removal of hydrogen by M. smithii is thought to allow an increase in the extraction of energy from nutrients by shifting bacterial fermentation to more oxidized end products.
The human gut flora consist of three main groups of hydrogen consuming microbes or hydrogenotrophs: methanogens including M. smithii; various acetogenic bacteria; and sulfate-reducing bacteria. The different roles of these microorgansims is helpful in understanding how hydrogen metabolism affects the efficiency of dietary fermentation. Accumulation of hydrogen in the gut reduces the efficiency of microbial fermentation as well as the yield of energy. Methanogenic archaea are therefore particularly significant for the human gut, because they are pivotal in the removal of excess hydrogen.M. smithii is the most common methanogenic archaeon in the human gut microbiota. Although M. smithii is paramount in digestive processes, it has a low prevalence in human feces.
The human gut microbiota is dominated by Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. Archaea are most prominently represented by the methanogenic M. smithii. M. smithii is believed to be a therapeutic target for manipulation and an adaptation to the gut ecosystem.
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