High-affinity methane oxidation by a soil enrichment culture containing a type II methanotroph
- Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Marburg (Germany)
- 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, Vol. 65, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: Mar 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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