A putative novel Methylobacter member (KRF1) from the globally important Methylobacter clade 2: cultivation and salient draft genome features

Rahalkar, MC; Khatri, K; Pandit, PS; Dhakephalkar, PK

HERO ID

6308228

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year

2019

Language

English

PMID

30968234

HERO ID 6308228
In Press No
Year 2019
Title A putative novel Methylobacter member (KRF1) from the globally important Methylobacter clade 2: cultivation and salient draft genome features
Authors Rahalkar, MC; Khatri, K; Pandit, PS; Dhakephalkar, PK
Journal Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Volume 112
Issue 9
Page Numbers 1399-1408
Abstract Methane oxidation by methanotrophs is a very important environmental process in the mitigation of methane. Methylobacter (Mtb.) clade 2 members have been reported as dominant methane oxidisers in soils and sediments worldwide. We enriched and purified a methanotroph from a tropical rice field soil sample from India. The highly enriched culture showed the presence of motile, long and thick rods (3-5 µm × 0.9-1.2 µm) and minor presence of short, thin rods. The culture was purified on agarose medium and formed yellow colonies which showed the presence of only thick and long rods, henceforth termed as strain KRF1. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain KRF1 shows close phylogenetic affiliation to Methylobacter tundripaludum SV96T (98.6% similarity). Due to the taxonomic novelty, and being the first member of Mtb. related to Mtb. tundripaludum from the tropics, the draft genome was sequenced. From the blastx analysis of the contigs, it was clear that the culture still had contamination of another organism, a Methylophilus species. The data binned in two clear bins: Mtb. related contigs and Methylophilus-related contigs. The binned draft genome of KRF1 shows features including the typical pathways for methane metabolism, denitrification and the presence of molybdenum iron and vanadium-iron nitrogenase genes. KRF1 is phylogenetically distinct from the five strains of Mtb. tundripaludum including SV96T, Lake Washington strains and OWC strains, showing ~ 26% DDH and ~ 81% ANIb values and a unique position in a phylogenomic tree. Subsequently, KRF1 has been completely purified from its methylotrophic partner and a pure culture has been established and maintained in a WDCM approved culture collection, the MACS Collection of Microorganisms (as MCM 1471). KRF1 is thus the first cultured member of a putative novel species of Methylobacter clade 2 isolated from the tropics.
Doi 10.1007/s10482-019-01262-y
Pmid 30968234
Wosid WOS:000481791900012
Is Certified Translation No
Dupe Override No
Is Public Yes
Language Text English
Keyword ; agarose; denitrification; genes; iron; lakes; metabolism; methane; methanotrophs; Methylobacter; Methylophilus; molybdenum; nitrogenase; nucleotide sequences; oxidation; paddy soils; phylogeny; ribosomal DNA; ribosomal RNA; sediments; sequence analysis; tropical soils; tropics; India; Washington (state)/