Oxygen-limited metabolism in the methanotroph Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1C.

ABSTRACT: The bacteria that grow on methane aerobically (methanotrophs) support populations of non-methanotrophs in the natural environment by excreting methane-derived carbon. One group of excreted compounds are short-chain organic acids, generated in highest abundance when cultures are grown under O₂-starvation. We examined this O₂-starvation condition in the methanotroph Methylomicrobium buryatense 5GB1. The M. buryatense 5GB1 genome contains homologs for all enzymes necessary for a fermentative metabolism, and we hypothesize that a metabolic switch to fermentation can be induced by low-O₂ conditions. Under prolonged O₂-starvation in a closed vial, this methanotroph increases the amount of acetate excreted about 10-fold, but the formate, l

SUBMITTER: Gilman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5652258 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature