Methylosinus trichosporium
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| Methylosinus trichosporium | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Kingdom: | Pseudomonadati |
| Phylum: | Pseudomonadota |
| Class: | Alphaproteobacteria |
| Order: | Hyphomicrobiales |
| Family: | Methylocystaceae |
| Genus: | Methylosinus |
| Species: | M. trichosporium |
| Binomial name | |
| Methylosinus trichosporium Bowman et al. 1993[1] | |
| Type strain | |
| ACM 3311, ATCC 35070, IMET 10541, NCIMB 11131, OB3b, UNIQEM 75, VKM B-2117[2] | |
Methylosinus trichosporium is an obligate aerobic and methane-oxidizing bacterium species from the genus of Methylosinus.[1][3][4][5][6] Its native habitat is generally in the soil, but the bacteria has been isolated from fresh water sediments and groundwater as well.[7] Because of this bacterium's ability to oxidize methane, M. trichosporium has been popular for identifying both the structure and function of enzymes involved with methane oxidation since it was first isolated in 1970 by Roger Whittenbury and colleagues.[4][6] Since its discovery, M. trichosporium and its soluble monooxygenase enzyme have been studied in detail to see if the bacterium could help in bioremediation treatments.[8]
As a type II methanotroph, M. trichosporium relies on methane as its primary source of carbon and energy.[9] A commonly used strain of this bacteria is strain OB3b, which is available through the American Type Culture Collection.[9] Even though all methanotrophs can form particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO), the ability to produce soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) is limited to type II methanotrophs.[10] These enzymes perform the same purpose for cellular function, but sMMO has a much higher specificity compared to pMMO.[8] Another key difference between the sMMO and pMMO is that they are produced under different conditions. In environments with concentrations of copper lower than 0.25 μM, sMMO is produced, but in higher concentrations of copper, sMMO production is lost and pMMO is produced.[9]