On March 9, 2022, the latest research results of the team led by Professor Frank Keppler from Heidelberg University in Germany were published in Nature, revealing a process of methane production, driven by non-enzymatic reactive oxygen species (ROS), in all living organisms, and this mechanism is only associated with ROS, iron and methyl donors. This study completely revolutionizes the traditional notion that methane is mainly produced enzymatically by microorganisms called methanogenic archaea in strictly anoxicconditions. Zhang Jingyao, an associate research professor from Professor Liu Chang'steam in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi 'an Jiaotong University (XJTU), was invited as a peer reviewer by Nature to participate in the whole publishing process of this article.

In addition, Professor Liu Chang's team was invited by Nature to contribute an article regarding the mechanism of methane production in all living organisms. Based on the research results of Professor Frank Keppler's team, the team proposed several ideas by combining with previous research outcomes. First, methane released by organisms is an indirect marker of ROS level in the organism, and it can reflect the oxidative stress level of the organism by detecting methane level in breath, blood or tissue samples, which has certain prospect in the field of in vitro diagnostics. Second, the process of ROS-driven methane production is an endogenous protective mechanism of the body against antioxidant stress. Third, exogenous intake of methane (inhaling methane gas, drinking methane-rich water,etc.) can play an auxiliary therapeutic role by lowering oxidative stress level and inflammatory reaction, which has certain value in clinical application and health industry. In this article, the team, for the first time, proposed the biological effect of endogenous and exogenous methane and predict the development direction in the field of biomedicine.

This article entitled “Methane might be made by all living organisms” was published in News & Views of Nature on March 9, 2022. In recent decade, more than 20 review articles from Chinese mainland scholars (teams) have been published in News & Views of Nature. This is the first time that XJTU published an article in this column. All authors of this article are from the First Affiliated Hospital of XJTU.

                                                        Professor Liu Chang          Associate research professor Zhang Jingyao

Article link:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00206-3