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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1999, p. 3312-3318, Vol. 65, No. 8
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Characterization of Methanotrophic Bacterial
Populations in Soils Showing Atmospheric Methane Uptake
Andrew J.
Holmes,1,2
Peter
Roslev,3
Ian R.
McDonald,1
Niels
Iversen,3
Kaj
Henriksen,3 and
J.
Colin
Murrell1,*
Department of Biological Sciences, University
of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom1;
Commonwealth Key Centre for Biodiversity and Bioresources,
School of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New
South Wales, 2109, Australia2; and
Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Aalborg University,
DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark3
Received 25 January 1999/Accepted 10 May 1999
The global methane cycle includes both terrestrial and atmospheric
processes and may contribute to feedback regulation of the
climate. Most oxic soils are a net sink for methane, and these soils
consume approximately 20 to 60 Tg of methane per year. The soil sink
for atmospheric methane is microbially mediated and sensitive to
disturbance. A decrease in the capacity of this sink may have
contributed to the ~1% · year
1 increase in the
atmospheric methane level in this century. The organisms responsible
for methane uptake by soils (the atmospheric methane sink) are not
known, and factors that influence the activity of these organisms are
poorly understood. In this study the soil methane-oxidizing population
was characterized by both labelling soil microbiota with
14CH4 and analyzing a total soil monooxygenase
gene library. Comparative analyses of [14C]phospholipid
ester-linked fatty acid profiles performed with representative
methane-oxidizing bacteria revealed that the soil sink for atmospheric
methane consists of an unknown group of methanotrophic bacteria that
exhibit some similarity to type II methanotrophs. An analysis of
monooxygenase gene libraries from the same soil samples indicated that
an unknown group of bacteria belonging to the
subclass of the
class Proteobacteria was present; these organisms
were only distantly related to extant methane-oxidizing strains.
Studies on factors that affect the activity, population dynamics, and
contribution to global methane flux of "atmospheric methane
oxidizers" should be greatly facilitated by use of biomarkers identified in this study.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 1203 523553. Fax: 44 1203 523568. E-mail:
cm{at}dna.bio.warwick.ac.uk.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 1999, p. 3312-3318, Vol. 65, No. 8
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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