Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1073/pnas.1817812116
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Widespread soil bacterium that oxidizes atmospheric methane
Author Tveit, A.T.; Hestnes, A.G.; Robinson, S.L.; Schintlmeister, A.; Dedysh, S.N.; Jehmlich, N. ORCID logo ; von Bergen, M.; Herbold, C.; Wagner, M.; Richter, A.; Svenning, M.M.
Source Titel Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year 2019
Department MOLSYB
Volume 116
Issue 17
Page From 8515
Page To 8524
Language englisch
Supplements https://www.pnas.org/highwire/filestream/857970/field_highwire_adjunct_files/0/pnas.1817812116.sapp.pdf
https://www.pnas.org/highwire/filestream/857970/field_highwire_adjunct_files/1/pnas.1817812116.sd01.xlsx
https://www.pnas.org/highwire/filestream/857970/field_highwire_adjunct_files/2/pnas.1817812116.sd02.xlsx
Keywords methane; USC alpha; trace gases; isolate; filter cultivation
Abstract The global atmospheric level of methane (CH4), the second most important greenhouse gas, is currently increasing by ∼10 million tons per year. Microbial oxidation in unsaturated soils is the only known biological process that removes CH4 from the atmosphere, but so far, bacteria that can grow on atmospheric CH4 have eluded all cultivation efforts. In this study, we have isolated a pure culture of a bacterium, strain MG08 that grows on air at atmospheric concentrations of CH4 [1.86 parts per million volume (p.p.m.v.)]. This organism, named Methylocapsa gorgona, is globally distributed in soils and closely related to uncultured members of the upland soil cluster α. CH4 oxidation experiments and 13C-single cell isotope analyses demonstrated that it oxidizes atmospheric CH4 aerobically and assimilates carbon from both CH4 and CO2. Its estimated specific affinity for CH4 (a0s) is the highest for any cultivated methanotroph. However, growth on ambient air was also confirmed for Methylocapsa acidiphila and Methylocapsa aurea, close relatives with a lower specific affinity for CH4, suggesting that the ability to utilize atmospheric CH4 for growth is more widespread than previously believed. The closed genome of M. gorgona MG08 encodes a single particulate methane monooxygenase, the serine cycle for assimilation of carbon from CH4 and CO2, and CO2 fixation via the recently postulated reductive glycine pathway. It also fixes dinitrogen and expresses the genes for a high-affinity hydrogenase and carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, suggesting that atmospheric CH4 oxidizers harvest additional energy from oxidation of the atmospheric trace gases carbon monoxide (0.2 p.p.m.v.) and hydrogen (0.5 p.p.m.v.).
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=21844
Tveit, A.T., Hestnes, A.G., Robinson, S.L., Schintlmeister, A., Dedysh, S.N., Jehmlich, N., von Bergen, M., Herbold, C., Wagner, M., Richter, A., Svenning, M.M. (2019):
Widespread soil bacterium that oxidizes atmospheric methane
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 116 (17), 8515 - 8524 10.1073/pnas.1817812116