Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY REPORTS
Volume 3, Issue 4, Pages 466-472Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1758-2229.2010.00237.x
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Funding
- Nansenfondet (The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters)
- National Program for Research in Functional Genomics in Norway (FUGE-N)
- Roald Amundsen Centre for Arctic Research, University of Tromso
- Max Planck Society
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The dominant terminal process of carbon mineralization in most freshwater wetlands is methanogenesis. With methane being an important greenhouse gas, the predicted warming of the Arctic may provide a positive feedback. However, the amount of methane released to the atmosphere may be controlled by the activity of methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs) living in the oxic surface layer of wetlands. Previously, methanotrophs have been isolated and identified by genetic profiling in High Arctic wetlands showing the presence of only a few genotypes. Two isolates from Solvatnet (Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen; 79 degrees N) are available: Methylobacter tundripaludum (type I) and Methylocystis rosea (type II), raising the question whether the low diversity is a cultivation effect. We have revisited Solvatnet applying stable isotope probing (SIP) with C-13-labelled methane. 16S rRNA profiling revealed active type I methanotrophs including M. tundripaludum, while no active type II methanotrophs were identified. These results indicate that the extant M. tundripaludum is an active methane oxidizer at its locus typicus; furthermore, Methylobacter seems to be the dominant active genus. Diversity of methanotrophs was low as compared, e. g. to wetland rice fields in the Mediterranean. This low diversity suggests a high vulnerability of Arctic methanotroph communities, which deserves more attention.
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