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Wood-Ljungdahl pathway

traitmech:000022 · CLASS · REVIEWED

An autotrophic carbon-fixation pathway (the reductive acetyl-CoA pathway) in which two molecules of CO2 are reduced and combined into acetyl-CoA. It is energetically efficient and used by acetogenic bacteria, methanogenic archaea, and some sulfate-reducing bacteria.

Wood-Ljungdahl pathway reduces 2 CO2 to acetyl-CoA

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking reduction of two CO2 molecules into acetyl-CoA via the reductive acetyl-CoA pathway.

Wood-Ljungdahl pathway reduces 2 CO2 to acetyl-CoA Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for Wood-Ljungdahl pathway.

Edge evidence

  • Wood-Ljungdahl pathway enables Wood-Ljungdahl pathway RO:0002327

    The reductive acetyl-CoA pathway underlies the trait.

    • DOI:10.1016/j.bbapap.2008.08.012 Ragsdale & Pierce review the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway as the reference reductive acetyl-CoA pathway.
  • carbon dioxide fixed by Wood-Ljungdahl pathway METPO:2007404

    Two molecules of CO2 are fixed and combined into acetyl-CoA.

    • DOI:10.1128/AEM.02473-10 Berg places Wood-Ljungdahl among the recognized autotrophic carbon-fixation pathways.
  • Wood-Ljungdahl pathway has part methyl branch

    The WLP comprises a methyl (eastern) branch.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway is a two-branch autotrophic CO2 fixation pathway: a methyl branch and a carbonyl branch.
  • Wood-Ljungdahl pathway has part carbonyl branch

    The WLP comprises a carbonyl (western) branch.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 The Wood-Ljungdahl pathway is a two-branch autotrophic CO2 fixation pathway with a carbonyl branch.
  • formate dehydrogenase (FDH) reduces carbon dioxide METPO:2000017

    FDH reduces CO2 to formate, the first methyl-branch step (product: formate node).

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) reduces CO2 to formate; canonical bacterial WLP step.
  • formate dehydrogenase (FDH) produces formate METPO:2000202

    FDH-catalyzed reduction of CO2 yields formate.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) reduces CO2 to formate.
  • formyl-THF synthetase (FTS/Fhs) requires ATP

    Formyl-THF synthetase consumes one ATP to activate formate.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 Formyl-THF synthetase (FTS) forms formyl-THF, consuming one ATP.
  • methyltransferase transfers methyl to corrinoid iron-sulfur protein (CoFeSP)

    Methyltransferase transfers the methyl group onto the corrinoid iron-sulfur protein.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 Methyltransferase transfers the methyl onto a corrinoid iron-sulfur protein (CoFeSP).
  • acetyl-CoA synthase (ACS) produces acetyl-CoA METPO:2000202

    ACS condenses CO, methyl-CoFeSP and CoA into acetyl-CoA, the terminal WLP step.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 ACS combines CO, methyl-CoFeSP and CoA into acetyl-CoA; central terminal step of WLP.
  • tetrahydrofolate (THF) functions as C1 carrier in methyl branch

    THF serves as the C1 carrier of the WLP methyl branch.

    • DOI:10.1039/d4cb00099d WLP converts two CO2 to one acetyl-CoA using THF as the C1 carrier.
  • Wood-Ljungdahl pathway has quality zero net ATP from substrate-level phosphorylation

    Formate activation offsets SLP so the WLP nets zero ATP by substrate-level phosphorylation.

    • DOI:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1395540 Activation of formate consumes one ATP, so substrate-level phosphorylation nets zero ATP.

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1016/j.bbapap.2008.08.012

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (1)

  • reductive acetyl-CoA pathway EXACT_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1016/j.bbapap.2008.08.012

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000060 [-1.052, -1.766, -1.194, +0.291, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate METABOLISM trait (Wood-Ljungdahl / reductive acetyl-CoA carbon-fixation pathway); sub-variant of carbon fixation. Distinct from the existing acetogenesis metabolism class (which produces acetate via this pathway).

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (Wood-Ljungdahl reductive acetyl-CoA) with GO/CHEBI node groundings and RO/METPO predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · FIX_NODE_GROUNDING_CURIE · claude

    Overwrote 1 causal-node grounding(s) (obsolete/wrong GO -> corrected, verified vs OAK).

  4. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 9 evidence-backed generic edges (12 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  5. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 3 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (METPO:2000202×2, METPO:2000017×1).

  6. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A0C5IX96×1).