Peatlands store close to half of the terrestrial soil carbon and release substantial amounts of the greenhouse gas methane (CH₄) to the atmosphere. While CH₄ is thought to be produced mainly by hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic methanogenic pathways, methylotrophic methanogenesis may be a hidden, yet potentially important, source of CH₄ in these globally significant ecosystems. To explore the importance of methylotrophic methanogenesis in northern peatlands, ¹³C-labeled methylated substrates (methanol, dimethylsulfide, and trimethylamine) were added to soils along a depth profile and the production of ¹³C–CH₄ was measured. Additionally, the concentrations of methylated compounds were measured across a soil depth profile in situ.

Results suggest that methylated substrates can be used by peatland microbes, resulting in CH₄ production in all sites at all depths. Methanol was converted to CH₄ in each site at all depths. In contrast, trimethylamine and dimethylsulfide were only converted to CH₄ at the surface depth regardless of site. In situ concentrations of dimethylsulfide were below detection limit in all sites and depths. Monomethylamine and methanol were present in situ with concentrations ranging from 30 to 1225 nM.

For the first time in peatlands, we have estimated contributions of methylated substrates to the total CH₄ produced. Microbial processing of methylated substrates contributed a maximum of 11% of the total CH₄ produced at depth in one peatland; but, in shallow soils with higher rates of CH₄ production, the potential contribution of methylotrophic methanogenesis to overall CH₄ production was minor.

泥炭地储存了近一半的陆地土壤碳，并向大气释放了大量的温室气体甲烷（CH ₄）。尽管人们认为CH ₄主要是由氢营养和乙酰碎裂的产甲烷途径产生的，但在这些全球重要的生态系统中，甲基营养的产甲烷可能是CH ₄的隐藏但潜在重要的来源。为了探索北部泥炭地甲基营养型甲烷化的重要性，沿深度剖面向土壤中添加了¹³ C标记的甲基化底物（甲醇，二甲基硫醚和三甲胺），并生成了¹³ C–CH ₄被测量。另外，在整个土壤深度剖面上就地测量甲基化化合物的浓度。

结果表明，泥炭地微生物可以使用甲基化底物，从而在所有深度的所有位置产生CH ₄。在每个位置的所有深度，甲醇都转化为CH ₄。相反，三甲胺和二甲基硫醚仅在表面深度被转化为CH ₄，而与位置无关。在所有位置和深度，二甲基硫的原位浓度均低于检测极限。单甲胺和甲醇原位存在，浓度范围为30至1225 nM。

我们首次在泥炭地中估算了甲基化底物对产生的总CH _4的贡献。甲基化底物的微生物处理最多贡献了一个泥炭地深度产生的CH ₄总量的11％。但是，在CH ₄产生速率较高的浅层土壤中，甲基营养型甲烷生成对总CH ₄产生的潜在贡献很小。