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Heat-tolerant methanotropic bacteria from the hot water effluent of a natural gas field

Journal Article · · Applied and Environmental Microbiology
OSTI ID:146522
; ;  [1]
  1. Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged (Hungary)
Methanotrophic bacteria were isolated from a natural environment potentially favorable to heat-tolerant methanotrophs. An improved colony plate assay was developed and used to identify putative methanotrophic colonies with high confidence. Fourteen new isolates were purified and partially characterized. These new isolates exhibit a DNA sequence homology of up to 97% with the conserved regions in the mmoX and mmoC genes of the soluble methane monooxygenase (MMO)-coding gene cluster of Methylococcus capsulatus Bath. The copper regulations of soluble MMO expression in the same isolates, however, differs from that of M. capsulatus Bath, as the new isolates can tolerate up to 0.8 {mu}M copper without loss of MMO activity while a drastic reduction of MMO activity occurs already at 0.1 {mu}M copper in M. capsulatus Bath. The isolates can be cultivated and utilized at elevated temperatures, and their copper- and heat-tolerant MMO activity makes these bacterial ideal candidates for future biotechnological use. 35 refs., 6 figs.
OSTI ID:
146522
Journal Information:
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Journal Name: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 61; ISSN AEMIDF; ISSN 0099-2240
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English