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Unusual Members of the PVC Superphylum: The Methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia Genus “Methylacidiphilum”

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Planctomycetes: Cell Structure, Origins and Biology

Abstract

Aerobic methanotrophic bacteria can use methane as their sole energy source. Most known species belong to the phylum Proteobacteria. One exception is a group of thermoacidophilic methanotrophic bacteria belonging to the phylum Verrucomicrobia. Although not yet taxonomically validated, these bacteria have been described physiologically and genomically and given the tentative genus name “Methylacidiphilum.” They are found in geothermal environments with moderate to high temperatures (up to 65 °C) and high acidities (down to pH 1). The genetic pathways conferring a methanotrophic lifestyle in verrucomicrobial methanotrophs are similar to their proteobacterial counterparts, although rather than fixing carbon derived from methane, they are autotrophs obtaining carbon via the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Lateral gene transfer appears to have played a major role in shaping the genomes of “Methylacidiphilum” spp. The following chapter summarizes what we presently know about them.

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Acknowledgments

C.E.S. is supported by fellowships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Alberta Innovates Technology Futures. The work was supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant (P.D.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Christine E. Sharp, Ivica Tamas & Peter F. Dunfield

  2. Department of Microbiology, IWWR, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Huub J. M. Op den Camp

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  1. Christine E. Sharp
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  2. Huub J. M. Op den Camp
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  3. Ivica Tamas
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  4. Peter F. Dunfield
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Correspondence to Peter F. Dunfield .

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  1. School of Chemistry and Molecular, Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, St. Lucia, 4072, Australia

    John A. Fuerst

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Sharp, C.E., den Camp, H.J.M.O., Tamas, I., Dunfield, P.F. (2013). Unusual Members of the PVC Superphylum: The Methanotrophic Verrucomicrobia Genus “Methylacidiphilum”. In: Fuerst, J. (eds) Planctomycetes: Cell Structure, Origins and Biology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-502-6_9

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