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Community Structure, Abundance, and Activity of Methanotrophs in the Zoige Wetland of the Tibetan Plateau

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

The Zoige wetland of the Tibetan Plateau is a high-altitude tundra wetland and one of the biggest methane emission centers in China. In this study, methanotrophs with respect to community structure, abundance, and activity were investigated in peat soils collected in the vicinity of different marshland plants that dominate different regions of the wetland, including Polygonum amphibium, Carex muliensis, and Eleocharis valleculosa (EV). 16S rRNA gene and particulate methane monooxygenase gene (pmoA) clone library sequence data indicated the presence of methanotrophs with two genera, Methylobacter and Methylocystis. Methylococcus, like pmoA gene sequences, were also retrieved and showed low similarity to those from Methylococcus spp. and thus indicates the existence of novel methanotrophs in the Zoige wetland. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays were used to measure the abundance of methantrophs and detected 107 to 108 of total pmoA gene copies per gram dry weight of soil in the three marshes. Group-specific qPCR and reverse transcriptase qPCR results found that the Methylobacter genus dominates the wetland, and Methylocystis methanotrophs were less abundant, although this group of methanotrophs was estimated to be more active according to mRNA/DNA ratio. Furthermore, EV marsh demonstrated the highest methanotrophs abundance and activity among the three marshes investigated. Our study suggests that both type I and type II methanotrophs contribute to the methane oxidation in the Zoige wetland.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Yongcui Deng from the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for providing assistance with soil sampling and Dr. Fei Lu from the State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for assistance with methane measurements. This study was supported by a knowledge innovation grant of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (kzcx2-yw-418-03), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (20100470561), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41001151).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate University of Chinese Academic of Sciences, 19 A, Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Juanli Yun, Hongguang Guo, Yanfen Wang & Hongxun Zhang

  2. Research Center for Eco-Environment Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 85, Shuangqing Road, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Guoqiang Zhuang & Anzhou Ma

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  1. Juanli Yun
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  2. Guoqiang Zhuang
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Correspondence to Hongxun Zhang.

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Yun, J., Zhuang, G., Ma, A. et al. Community Structure, Abundance, and Activity of Methanotrophs in the Zoige Wetland of the Tibetan Plateau. Microb Ecol 63, 835–843 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-011-9981-x

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