Methanol excretion by Methylomonas methanica is induced by the supernatant of a methanotrophic consortium

Abstract

BackgroundMethanotrophs play an important role in mitigating CH4 emissions in ecosystems. They closely interact with other microorganisms forming communities where the cross‐feeding of metabolites, presumably methanol, is essential for the growth and activity of non‐methanotrophs. The experiments in this study were focused on investigating the effect of adding the supernatant from a methanotrophic consortium to pure cultures of Methylomonas methanica.ResultsMethanol dehydrogenase inhibition caused the accumulation of methanol, which resulted in a significant production after 3 hours, with 1.99 mM CH3OH. The addition of the supernatant was associated with the excretion of methanol by M. methanica and enhancement of the CH4 consumption rate, despite a reduction in growth. The maximum methanol concentrations were between 0.7 – 1.5 mM CH3OH.ConclusionThese findings indicate that methanol excretion may indeed be linked to a metabolic imbalance, which could potentially be compensated through the cross‐feeding of metabolites within the methanotrophic community.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.