Methane-fed microbial aerobic enrichment cultures from field-grown rice tissues and rhizosphere
Rice paddies naturally host aerobic methanotrophic bacteria, due to the production of methane in flooded soils. To investigate how the activity of methanotrophs may impact the structure of the broader microbial community in this globally important agricultural environment, we passaged 51 microbial aerobic enrichment cultures from field-grown rice rhizosphere, root, and stem samples in a chemically-defined medium with methane as the primary carbon source and electron donor. The rice plants were obtained from two field sites located in Biggs, California, and Staten Island, California. The composition of the cultures was profiled on a weekly basis by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The cultures were passaged at a 1:10 dilution ratio every four weeks and incubated for a total of twelve weeks.