Methylocapsa aurea sp. nov., a facultative methanotroph possessing a particulate methane monooxygenase, and emended description of the genus Methylocapsa.

An aerobic, methanotrophic bacterium, designated KYG(T), was isolated from a forest soil in Germany. Cells of strain KYG(T) were Gram-negative, non-motile, slightly curved rods that multiplied by binary fission and produced yellow colonies. The cells contained intracellular granules of poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate at each cell pole, a particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) and stacks of intracytoplasmic membranes (ICMs) packed in parallel along one side of the cell envelope. Strain KYG(T) grew at pH 5.2-7.2 and 2-33 °C and could fix atmospheric nitrogen under reduced oxygen tension. The major cellular fatty acid was C(18 : 1)ω7c (81.5 %) and the DNA G+C content was 61.4 mol%. Strain KYG(T) belonged to the family Beijerinckiaceae of the class Alphaproteobacteria and was most closely related to the obligate methanotroph Methylocapsa acidiphila B2(T) (98.1 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and 84.7 % pmoA sequence similarity). Unlike Methylocapsa acidiphila B2(T), which grows only on methane and methanol, strain KYG(T) was able to grow facultatively on acetate. Facultative acetate utilization is a characteristic of the methanotrophs of the genus Methylocella, but the genus Methylocella does not produce pMMO or ICMs. Strain KYG(T) differed from Methylocapsa acidiphila B2(T) on the basis of substrate utilization pattern, pigmentation, pH range, cell ultrastructure and efficiency of dinitrogen fixation. Therefore, we propose a novel species, Methylocapsa aurea sp. nov., to accommodate this bacterium. The type strain is KYG(T) (=DSM 22158(T) =VKM B-2544(T)).

Competitive oxidation of volatile fatty acids by sulfate- and nitrate-reducing bacteria from an oil field in Argentina.

Acetate, propionate, and butyrate, collectively referred to as volatile fatty acids (VFA), are considered among the most important electron donors for sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and heterotrophic nitrate-reducing bacteria (hNRB) in oil fields. Samples obtained from a field in the Neuquén Basin, western Argentina, had significant activity of mesophilic SRB, hNRB, and nitrate-reducing, sulfide-oxidizing bacteria (NR-SOB). In microcosms, containing VFA (3 mM each) and excess sulfate, SRB first used propionate and butyrate for the production of acetate, which reached concentrations of up to 12 mM prior to being used as an electron donor for sulfate reduction. In contrast, hNRB used all three organic acids with similar kinetics, while reducing nitrate to nitrite and nitrogen. Transient inhibition of VFA-utilizing SRB was observed with 0.5 mM nitrite and permanent inhibition with concentrations of 1 mM or more. The addition of nitrate to medium flowing into an upflow, packed-bed bioreactor with an established VFA-oxidizing SRB consortium led to a spike of nitrite up to 3 mM. The nitrite-mediated inhibition of SRB led, in turn, to the transient accumulation of up to 13 mM of acetate. The complete utilization of nitrate and the incomplete utilization of VFA, especially propionate, and sulfate indicated that SRB remained partially inhibited. Hence, in addition to lower sulfide concentrations, an increase in the concentration of acetate in the presence of sulfate in waters produced from an oil field subjected to nitrate injection may indicate whether the treatment is successful. The microbial community composition in the bioreactor, as determined by culturing and culture-independent techniques, indicated shifts with an increasing fraction of nitrate. With VFA and sulfate, the SRB genera Desulfobotulus, Desulfotignum, and Desulfobacter as well as the sulfur-reducing Desulfuromonas and the NR-SOB Arcobacter were detected. With VFA and nitrate, Pseudomonas spp. were present. hNRB/NR-SOB from the genus Sulfurospirillum were found under all conditions.