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6212322 
Book/Book Chapter 
Methanotrophy/methane oxidation 
Murrell, JC; Smith, TJ 
2009 
Academic Press 
Oxford 
Encyclopedia of Microbiology (Third Edition) 
293-298 
Methanotrophic bacteria grow aerobically using methane as their sole source of carbon and energy. They are widespread in the environment and play an important role in oxidizing methane in the environment, thereby mitigating the effects of global warming by this potent greenhouse gas. Methane monooxygenases (MMOs), which are the enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of methane, especially the catalytically versatile soluble MMO (sMMO), can co-oxidize a wide range of hydrocarbons and chlorinated hydrocarbons and have great potential as biocatalysts for bioremediation and biocatalysis. Methanotrophs can also be used to make single-cell protein (SCP) from methane. Recent isolation of novel groups of thermophilic, acidophilic methanotrophs, has revealed that these bacteria can even grow under extreme environmental conditions. The availability of genome sequences of several methanotrophs now opens up possibilities of postgenomic studies to investigate the regulation of methane oxidation in the laboratory and in the environment. 
biocatalysis; bioremediation; biotransformation; co-oxidation; environmental microbiology; global warming; methane oxidizing bacteria; methane monooxygenase; methanotrophs; particulate methane monooxygenase; postgenomics; regulation of methane oxidation; single-cell protein; soluble methane monooxygenase 
Schaechter, Moselio