Autotrophic carbon dioxide fixation via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle by the denitrifying methanotroph "Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera".

Methane is an important greenhouse gas and the most abundant hydrocarbon in the Earth's atmosphere. Methanotrophic microorganisms can use methane as their sole energy source and play a crucial role in the mitigation of methane emissions in the environment. "Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera" is a recently described intra-aerobic methanotroph that is assumed to use nitric oxide to generate internal oxygen to oxidize methane via the conventional aerobic pathway, including the monooxygenase reaction. Previous genome analysis has suggested that, like the verrucomicrobial methanotrophs, "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" encodes and transcribes genes for the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle for carbon assimilation. Here we provide multiple independent lines of evidence for autotrophic carbon dioxide fixation by "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" via the CBB cycle. The activity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO), a key enzyme of the CBB cycle, in cell extracts from an "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" enrichment culture was shown to account for up to 10% of the total methane oxidation activity. Labeling studies with whole cells in batch incubations supplied with either (13)CH4 or [(13)C]bicarbonate revealed that "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" biomass and lipids became significantly more enriched in (13)C after incubation with (13)C-labeled bicarbonate (and unlabeled methane) than after incubation with (13)C-labeled methane (and unlabeled bicarbonate), providing evidence for autotrophic carbon dioxide fixation. Besides this experimental approach, detailed genomic and transcriptomic analysis demonstrated an operational CBB cycle in "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera." Altogether, these results show that the CBB cycle is active and plays a major role in carbon assimilation by "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" bacteria. Our results suggest that autotrophy might be more widespread among methanotrophs than was previously assumed and implies that a methanotrophic community in the environment is not necessarily revealed by (13)C-depleted lipids.

Rare branched fatty acids characterize the lipid composition of the intra-aerobic methane oxidizer "Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera".

The recently described bacterium "Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera" couples the oxidation of the important greenhouse gas methane to the reduction of nitrite. The ecological significance of "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" is still underexplored, as our ability to identify the presence of this bacterium is thus far limited to DNA-based techniques. Here, we investigated the lipid composition of "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" to identify new, gene-independent biomarkers for the environmental detection of this bacterium. Multiple "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera" enrichment cultures were investigated. In all cultures, the lipid profile was dominated up to 46% by the fatty acid (FA) 10-methylhexadecanoic acid (10MeC(16:0)). Furthermore, a unique FA was identified that has not been reported elsewhere: the monounsaturated 10-methylhexadecenoic acid with a double bond at the Δ7 position (10MeC(16:1Δ7)), which comprised up to 10% of the total FA profile. We propose that the typical branched fatty acids 10MeC(16:0) and 10MeC(16:1Δ7) are key and characteristic components of the lipid profile of "Ca. Methylomirabilis oxyfera." The successful detection of these fatty acids in a peatland from which one of the enrichment cultures originated supports the potential of these unique lipids as biomarkers for the process of nitrite-dependent methane oxidation in the environment.

Source determination of nitrous oxide based on nitrogen and oxygen isotope tracing dealing with oxygen exchange.

Source determination of nitrous oxide (N(2)O) from soils has so far been complicated by methodological constraints: the frequently used (15)N tracer method could not differentiate between pathways related to nitrification, that is, nitrifier nitrification (NN), nitrifier denitrification (ND), and nitrification-coupled denitrification (NCD). To overcome this problem, a dual isotope method using both (15)N and (18)O was proposed. However, O exchange between nitrogen oxides and water has been found to disturb such a method. We here explain in detail a novel dual isotope method that allows to quantify O exchange in denitrification and to differentiate N(2)O production from NN, ND, NCD, and fertilizer denitrification (FD). The method has already been applied to a range of soils with good success. Potential of and scope for further improvement of the method are discussed.