Cohn's Crenothrix is a filamentous methane oxidizer with an unusual methane monooxygenase.
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.
Stoecker
Kilian
K
Department für Mikrobielle Okologie, Universität Wien, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
Bendinger
Bernd
B
Schöning
Björn
B
Nielsen
Per H
PH
Nielsen
Jeppe L
JL
Baranyi
Christian
C
Toenshoff
Elena R
ER
Daims
Holger
H
Wagner
Michael
M
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
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D010105:Oxygenases; C021555:methane monooxygenase; D008697:Methane