Methylobacterium populi sp nov., a novel aerobic, pink-pigmented, facultatively methylotrophic, methane-utilizing bacterium isolated from poplar trees (Populus deltoides x nigra DN34)

A pink-pigmented, aerobic, facultatively methylotrophic bacterium, strain BJ001(T), was isolated from internal poplar tissues (Populus deltoides x nigra DN34) and identified as a member of the genus Methylobacterium. Phylogenetic analyses showed that strain BJ001(T) is related to Methylobacterium thiocyanatum, Methylobacterium extorquens, Methylobacterium zatmanii and Methylobacterium rhodesianum. However, strain BJ001(T) differed from these species in its carbon-source utilization pattern, particularly its use of methane as the sole source of carbon and energy, an ability that is shared with only one other member of the genus, Methylobacterium organophilum. In addition, strain BJ001(T) is the only member of the genus Methylobacterium to be described as an endophyte of poplar trees. On the basis of its physiological, genotypic and ecological properties, the isolate is proposed as a member of a novel species of the genus Methylobacterium, Methylobacterium populi sp. nov. (type strain, BJ001(T)=ATCC BAA-705(T) =NCIMB 13946(T)).