This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sundh, I. Articles by Tranvik, L. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sundh, I. Articles by Tranvik, L. J. Agricola Articles by Sundh, I. Articles by Tranvik, L. J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2005, p. 6746-6752, Vol. 71, No. 11
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.11.6746-6752.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Abundance, Activity, and Community Structure of Pelagic Methane-Oxidizing Bacteria in Temperate Lakes

Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7025, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden,¹ Department of Water and Environmental Studies, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden,² Limnology, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Norbyvagen 20, Uppsala University, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden³

Received 17 March 2005/ Accepted 4 July 2005

The abundance and activity of methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) in the water column were investigated in three lakes with different contents of nutrients and humic substances. The abundance of MOB was determined by analysis of group-specific phospholipid fatty acids from type I and type II MOB, and in situ activity was measured with a ¹⁴CH₄ transformation method. The fatty acid analyses indicated that type I MOB most similar to species of Methylomonas, Methylomicrobium, and Methylosarcina made a substantial contribution (up to 41%) to the total bacterial biomass, whereas fatty acids from type II MOB generally had very low concentrations. The MOB biomass and oxidation activity were positively correlated and were highest in the hypo- and metalimnion during summer stratification, whereas under ice during winter, maxima occurred close to the sediments. The methanotroph biomass-specific oxidation rate (V) ranged from 0.001 to 2.77 mg CH₄-C mg^–1 C day^–1 and was positively correlated with methane concentration, suggesting that methane supply largely determined the activity and biomass distribution of MOB. Our results demonstrate that type I MOB often are a large component of pelagic bacterial communities in temperate lakes. They represent a potentially important pathway for reentry of carbon and energy into pelagic food webs that would otherwise be lost as evasion of CH₄.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Kalyuzhnaya, M. G., Zabinsky, R., Bowerman, S., Baker, D. R., Lidstrom, M. E., Chistoserdova, L. (2006). Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization-Flow Cytometry-Cell Sorting-Based Method for Separation and Enrichment of Type I and Type II Methanotroph Populations.. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 4293-4301 [Abstract] [Full Text]