Nayak describes research she has done on methanogenic archaea – microorganisms that produce the potent greenhouse gas methane. One species of methanogens, Methanosarcina acetivorans, has unique chemical modifications on the enzyme it uses to produce methane. Dr. Nayak describes how she used CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to determine that these modifications are used to protect M. acetivorans from environmental stress to ensure that the organism can support its metabolic needs in a changing environment.
