Miniaturized extinction culturing is the preferred strategy for rapid isolation of fast-growing methane-oxidizing bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have a large potential as a microbial sink for the greenhouse gas methane as well as for biotechnological purposes. However, their application in biotechnology has so far been hampered, in part due to the relative slow growth rate of the available strains. To enable the availability of novel strains, this study compares the isolation of MOB by conventional dilution plating with miniaturized extinction culturing, both performed after an initial enrichment step. The extinction approach rendered 22 MOB isolates from four environmental samples, while no MOB could be isolated by plating. In most cases, extinction culturing immediately yielded MOB monocultures making laborious purification redundant. Both type I (Methylomonas spp.) and type II (Methylosinus sp.)

SUBMITTER: Hoefman S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3821679 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature