The formation of the greenhouse gas methane is based on a universal mechanism. Scientists at Heidelberg University and the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg have made this discovery. The interdisciplinary research team under the direction of Prof. Dr. Frank Keppler from the Institute of Earth Sciences and Dr. Ilka Bischofs from the BioQuant Center of Ruperto Carola found out that methane arises in the cells of organisms by a purely chemical process. The studies provide, inter alia, an explanation for why methane is released not only through the activity of special microorganisms but—as observed for quite some time now—also by plants and mushrooms. The current findings are an important step towards understanding aerobic methane formation in the environment.