Abstract
Proteobacteria capable of converting the greenhouse gas methane to biomass, energy, and carbon dioxide represent a small but important sink in global methane inventories. Currently, 23 genera of methane oxidizing (methanotrophic) proteobacteria have been described, although many are represented by only a single validly described species. Here we describe a new methanotrophic isolate that shares phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic relatedness with the marine methanotroph Methylomarinum vadi. However, the new isolate derives from a terrestrial saline mud pot at the northern terminus of the Eastern Pacific Rise (EPR). This new cultivar expands our knowledge of the ecology of Methylomarinum, ultimately towards a fuller understanding of the role of this genus in global methane cycling.
Highlights
The biological conversion of methane to biomass introduces carbon into the food web chemosynthetically
After 14 days, approximately 22 distinct colony types were identified that ranged in size, coloration, and shape. These colonies were probed for the particulate methane monooxygenase gene, whose product, pMMO-A, catalyzes aerobic methane oxidation
The Davis-Schrimpf seep field provides a terrestrial analog of submarine hydrothermal features in the Guaymas Basin, within the Gulf of California (Svensen et al, 2009)
Summary
The biological conversion of methane to biomass introduces carbon into the food web chemosynthetically. Among Bacteria, methane oxidation occurs aerobically (reviewed in Hanson & Hanson (1996) and Trotsenko & Murrell (2008)) with 23 validly-described genera of aerobic Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria encompassing the majority of cultivated bacterial methane oxidizers (Knief, 2015). Twelve of these (Methyloferula, Methylohalobius, Methylomarinovum, Methylogaea, Methylomagnum, Methyloparacoccus, Methyloglobulus, Methylosoma, Methylomarinum, Methylosphaera, and Methyloprofundus) are represented by a single validly-described species each, and their ecological impact is not clear. Taketomi Island lies at the subduction zone of the Philippines and Eurasian plates Another strain of Methylomarinum vadi was isolated independently in 1998 from coastal mud near
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