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Journal ArticleDOI

Selection of associated heterotrophs by methane-oxidizing bacteria at different copper concentrations

TLDR
Interpretative tools based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis allowed to evaluate the influence of copper—an important enzymatic regulator for MOB—on the activity and composition of the bacterial community, indicating that the MOB selected for certain heterotrophs, possibly fulfilling vital processes such as removal of toxic compounds.
Abstract
Due to the increasing atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gas methane, more knowledge is needed on the management of methanotrophic communities. While most studies have focused on the characteristics of the methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB), less is known about their interactions with the associated heterotrophs. Interpretative tools based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis allowed to evaluate the influence of copper—an important enzymatic regulator for MOB—on the activity and composition of the bacterial community. Over 30 days, enrichments with 0.1, 1.0 and 10 μM Cu2+ respectively, showed comparable methane oxidation activities. The different copper concentrations did not create major shifts in the methanotrophic communities, as a Methylomonas sp. was able to establish dominance at all different copper concentrations by switching between both known methane monooxygenases. The associated heterotrophic communities showed continuous shifts, but over time all cultures evolved to a comparable composition, independent of the copper concentration. This indicates that the MOB selected for certain heterotrophs, possibly fulfilling vital processes such as removal of toxic compounds. The presence of a large heterotrophic food web indirectly depending on methane as sole carbon and energy source was confirmed by a clone library wherein MOB only formed a minority of the identified species.

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A metagenomic insight into freshwater methane-utilizing communities and evidence for cooperation between the Methylococcaceae and the Methylophilaceae

TL;DR: The relevant abundances of the M methylococcaceae and the Methylophilaceae and their coordinated response to methane and nitrate suggest that these species may be engaged in cooperative behavior, the nature of which remains unknown.
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Methane-fed microbial microcosms show differential community dynamics and pinpoint taxa involved in communal response.

TL;DR: The results support prior observations from metagenomics on distribution of carbon from methane among diverse bacterial populations and further suggest that communities are likely responsible for methane cycling, rather than a single type of microbe.
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Oxygen availability is a major factor in determining the composition of microbial communities involved in methane oxidation

TL;DR: The data suggest that oxygen availability is at least one major factor determining specific partnerships in methane oxidation, and suggest that speciation within Methylococcaceae and Methylophilaceae may be driven by niche adaptation tailored toward specific placements within the oxygen gradient.
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Optimized cryopreservation of mixed microbial communities for conserved functionality and diversity.

TL;DR: A cryopreservation protocol is evaluated that succeeded in preserving both community structure and functionality of value-added microbiomes and will allow individual laboratories and culture collections to boost the use of microbiomes in biotechnological applications.
Journal ArticleDOI

Exploration and prediction of interactions between methanotrophs and heterotrophs.

TL;DR: Modelling-based tools were shown to hold great promise in reducing the amount of data that needs to be generated when conducting large co-cultivation studies, suggesting strain-dependent methanotroph-heterotroph complementarity.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Distribution of bacterioplankton in meromictic Lake Saelenvannet, as determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-amplified gene fragments coding for 16S rRNA.

TL;DR: The community structure of bacterioplankton in meromictic Lake Saelenvannet was examined by PCR amplification of the V3 region of 16S rRNA from microbial communities recovered from various depths in the water column, and bacterial diversity estimated from the number and intensity of specific fragments in DGGE profiles decreased with depth, while the reverse was true for the Archaea.
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Methanotrophs and copper

TL;DR: The current state of knowledge of the phylogeny, environmental distribution, and potential applications of methanotrophs for regional and global issues are summarized, as well as the role of Cu in regulating gene expression and proteome in these cells, its effects on enzymatic and whole-cell activity, and the novel Cu uptake system used by methanOTrophs are summarized.
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How to get more out of molecular fingerprints: practical tools for microbial ecology.

TL;DR: A setting-independent theoretical interpretation of the DGGE pattern is proposed, based on a straightforward processing on three levels of analysis: the range-weighted richness reflecting the carrying capacity of the system, the dynamics reflecting the specific rate of species coming to significance, and the functional organization defined through a relation between the structure of a microbial community and its functionality.
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Molecular Characterization of Functional and Phylogenetic Genes from Natural Populations of Methanotrophs in Lake Sediments

TL;DR: Phylogenetic analyses of both the 16S rRNA and pmoA gene sequences indicated that the new primers should detect these genes over the known diversity in methanotrophs, and these findings were combined with previously described phylogenetic data in order to identify operational taxonomic units that can be used to identify methanOTrophs at the genus level.
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