Work

Cohn’s Crenothrix is a filamentous methane oxidizer with an unusual methane monooxygenase

Year: 2006

Type: article

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.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0506361103

Authors: Kilian Stoecker, Bernd Bendinger, Björn Schöning, Per H. Nielsen, Jeppe L. Nielsen, Christian Baranyi, Elena R. Toenshoff, Holger Daims, Michael Wagner

Institutions: University of Vienna, Hamburg University of Technology, Michigan State University, Aalborg University

Language: English

Topic: Microbial metabolism and enzyme function

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Aalborg Universitet

OpenAlex ID: W2152772683

FWCI: 4.754

Cites: 29

Cited by: 257

Related to: 9