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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2007, p. 2024-2028, Vol. 73, No. 6
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02190-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SHORT REPORT

Methane Oxidation in Termite Hindguts: Absence of Evidence and Evidence of Absence{triangledown}

Michael Pester, Anne Tholen,{dagger} Michael W. Friedrich, and Andreas Brune*

Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Department of Biogeochemistry, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany

Received 18 September 2006/ Accepted 11 January 2007

A steep oxygen gradient and the presence of methane render the hindgut internal periphery of termites a potential habitat for aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria. However, methane emissions of various termites increased, if at all, only slightly when termites were exposed to an anoxic (nitrogen) atmosphere, and 14CH4 added to the air headspace over live termites was not converted to 14CO2. Evidence for the absence of methane oxidation in living termites was corroborated by the failure to detect pmoA, the marker gene for particulate methane monooxygenase, in hindgut DNA extracts of all termites investigated. This adds robustness to our concept of the degradation network in the termite hindgut and eliminates the gut itself as a potential sink of this important greenhouse gas.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35043 Marburg, Germany. Phone: (49) 6421 178701. Fax: (49) 6421 178709. E-mail: brune{at}mpi-marburg.mpg.de.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 19 January 2007.

{dagger} Present address: Altana Pharma Deutschland GmbH, Moltkestrasse 4, 78467 Konstanz, Germany.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2007, p. 2024-2028, Vol. 73, No. 6
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02190-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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Copyright © 2007 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.