Diel cycle of lanthanide-dependent methylotrophy by TMED127/Methylaequorales bacteria in oligotrophic surface seawater.

ABSTRACT: Methanol, the simplest alcohol, has long been known to be a key energy and carbon source for soil and plant-associated bacteria and fungi and is increasingly recognized as an important substrate for marine bacteria. Lanthanide-dependent methanol dehydrogenases (encoded by the gene xoxF) have been shown to be key catalysts for methylotrophy in many environments, yet the identity of the most transcriptionally active methylotrophs in open ocean waters ("Clade X") has remained elusive. Here, we show that "Clade X" methylotrophs belong to the deep-branching alphaproteobacterial order TMED127, which we propose be renamed "Methylaequorales": "methyl" for "methylotrophic metabolism" and "aequor" for "ocean surface," as these bacteria are most transcriptionally active near the sea surface. T

SUBMITTER: Glass JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12542740 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature