Structure and function of methanotrophic communities in a landfill-cover soil

In landfill-cover soils, aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) convert CH4 to CO2, mitigating emissions of the greenhouse gas CH4 to the atmosphere. We investigated overall MOB community structure and assessed spatial differences in MOB diversity, abundance and activity in a Swiss landfill-cover soil. Molecular cloning, terminal restriction-fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and quantitative PCR of pmoA genes were applied to soil collected from 16 locations at three different depths to study MOB community structure, diversity and abundance; MOB activity was measured in the field using gas push-pull tests. The MOB community was highly diverse but dominated by Type Ia MOB, with novel pmoA sequences present. Type II MOB were detected mainly in deeper soil with lower nutrient and higher CH4 concentrations. Substantial differences in MOB community structure were observed between one high- and one low-activity location. MOB abundance was highly variable across the site [4.0X104 to 1.1X107 (gsoildryweight)1]. Potential CH4 oxidation rates were high [1.858.2mmolCH4(Lsoilair)1day1] but showed significant lateral variation and were positively correlated with mean CH4 concentrations (P<0.01), MOB abundance (P<0.05) and MOB diversity (weak correlation, P<0.17). Our findings indicate that Methylosarcina and closely related MOB are key players and that MOB abundance and community structure are driving factors in CH4 oxidation at this landfill.