title: Cohn's Crenothrix is a filamentous methane oxidizer with an unusual methane monooxygenase.
abstract: 135 years ago Ferdinand Cohn, the founder of bacteriology, microscopically observed a conspicuous filamentous bacterium with a complex life cycle and described it as Crenothrix polyspora. This uncultured bacterium is infamous for mass developments in drinking water systems, but its phylogeny and physiology remained unknown. We show that C. polyspora is a gammaproteobacterium closely related to methanotrophs and capable of oxidizing methane. We discovered that C. polyspora encodes a phylogenetically very unusual particulate methane monooxygenase whose expression is strongly increased in the presence of methane. Our findings demonstrate a previously unrecognized complexity of the evolutionary history and cell biology of methane-oxidizing bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department für Mikrobielle Okologie, Universität Wien, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Kilian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stoecker
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bendinger
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schöning
authors.forename: Per H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Jeppe L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baranyi
authors.forename: Elena R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Toenshoff
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Daims
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D008772:Methylococcaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D010105:Oxygenases; C021555:methane monooxygenase; D008697:Methane