title: Aerobic culture of methanogenic archaea without an external source of hydrogen.
abstract: Culturing methanogenic archaea is fastidious, expensive, and requires an external source of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Until now, these microorganisms have only been cultivated under strictly anaerobic conditions. We previously developed a single versatile culture medium containing sugars and anti-oxydants for cultivating all human known methanogens. Performing aerobic cultures in the presence of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, which produces hydrogen, allows for cultivation of Methanobrevibacter smithii which itself produces methane. To obtain colonies, we cultivated M. smithii in an agar plate in the upper part of a double chamber flask with a liquid culture of B. thetaiotaomicron in the lower compartment. We subsequently cultured four other methanogenic species for the first time and successfully isolated 13 strains of M. smithii and nine strains of Methanobrevibacter oralis from 100 stools and 45 oral samples. This procedure allows aerobic isolation and antibiotic susceptibility testing. This changes the ability to routinely study methanogens, which have been neglected in clinical microbiology laboratories and may be useful for biogas production.
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khelaifia
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France.
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lagier
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France.
authors.forename: V D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Nkamga
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guilhot
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drancourt
authors.affiliation: URMITE, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée-Infection, Aix Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France. didier.raoult@gmail.com.|URMITE, CNRS UMR 7278, L'Institut de Recherche pour le Développement 198, INSERM U1095, Faculté de Médecine, Aix-Marseille Université, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille, Cedex 5, France. didier.raoult@gmail.com.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000332:Aerobiosis; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D001105:Archaea / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008697:Methane / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D017013:Methanobacteriaceae / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000975:Antioxidants; D003470:Culture Media; D002244:Carbon; D006859:Hydrogen; D008697:Methane