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High-affinity methane oxidation by a soil enrichment culture containing a type II methanotroph

Journal Article · · Applied and Environmental Microbiology
OSTI ID:335353
 [1]; ; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Marburg (Germany)
  2. McGill Univ., Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec (Canada). Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences
Methanotrophic bacteria in an organic soil were enriched on gaseous mixing ratios of <275 parts per million of volume (ppmv) of methane (CH{sub 4}). After 4 years of growth and periodic dilution, a mixed culture was obtained which displayed an apparent half-saturation constant [K{sub m(app)}] for CH{sub 4} of 56 to 186 nM (40 to 132 ppmv). This value was the same as that measured in the soil itself and about 1 order of magnitude lower than reported values for pure cultures of methane oxidizers. However, the K{sub m(app)} increased when the culture was transferred to higher mixing ratios of CH{sub 4}. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the enrichment grown on <275 ppmv of CH{sub 4} revealed a single gene product of pmoA, which codes for a subunit of particulate methane monooxygenase. This suggested that only one methanotroph species was present. This organism was isolated from a sample of the enrichment culture grown on 1% CH{sub 4} and phylogenetically positioned based on its 16S rRNA, pmoA, and mxaF gene sequences as a type II strain of the Methlocystis/Methylosinus group. A coculture of this strain with a Variovorax sp., when grown on <275 ppmv of CH{sub 4}, had a K{sub m(app)} similar to that of the initial enrichment culture. The data suggest that the affinity of methanotrophic bacteria for CH{sub 4} varies with growth conditions and that the oxidation of atmospheric CH{sub 4} observed in this soil is carried out by type II methanotrophic bacteria which are similar to characterized species.
OSTI ID:
335353
Journal Information:
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Journal Name: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 65; ISSN AEMIDF; ISSN 0099-2240
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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