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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2005, p. 4665-4670, Vol. 187, No. 13
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.13.4665-4670.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Methylocella Species Are Facultatively Methanotrophic

Svetlana N. Dedysh,1 Claudia Knief,2,{dagger} and Peter F. Dunfield2*

S. N. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117312, Russia,1 Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, Karl-von-Frisch Str., D-35043 Marburg, Germany2

Received 31 January 2005/ Accepted 29 March 2005

All aerobic methanotrophic bacteria described to date are unable to grow on substrates containing carbon-carbon bonds. Here we demonstrate that members of the recently discovered genus Methylocella are an exception to this. These bacteria are able to use as their sole energy source the one-carbon compounds methane and methanol, as well as the multicarbon compounds acetate, pyruvate, succinate, malate, and ethanol. To conclusively verify facultative growth, acetate and methane were used as model substrates in growth experiments with the type strain Methylocella silvestris BL2. Quantitative real-time PCR targeting the mmoX gene, which encodes a subunit of soluble methane monooxygenase, showed that copies of this gene increased in parallel with cell counts during growth on either acetate or methane as the sole substrate. This verified that cells possessing the genetic basis of methane oxidation grew on acetate as well as methane. Cloning of 16S rRNA genes and fluorescence in situ hybridization with strain-specific and genus-specific oligonucleotide probes detected no contaminants in cultures. The growth rate and carbon conversion efficiency were higher on acetate than on methane, and when both substrates were provided in excess, acetate was preferably used and methane oxidation was shut down. Our data demonstrate that not all methanotrophic bacteria are limited to growing on one-carbon compounds. This could have major implications for understanding the factors controlling methane fluxes in the environment.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Wairakei Research Station, Private Bag 2000, Taupo, New Zealand. Phone: 64-7-376-0126. Fax: 64-7-376-8199. E-mail: p.dunfield{at}gns.cri.nz.

{dagger} Present address: Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes Micro-organismes, INRA/CNRS, BP 52627, Chemin de Borde Rouge, 31326 Castanat-Tolosan, France.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2005, p. 4665-4670, Vol. 187, No. 13
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.13.4665-4670.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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