Methylobacterium strains from CCOS

Methylobacterium extorquens strain CCOS 151

Methylobacteria are facultative Gram-negative methylotrophic bacteria able to grow on one-carbon compounds such as methanol, formaldehyde, methylamine or formate.

Methylobacteria associated with plants utilise the methanol released by the plant. Growing plant cells emit methanol through the action of cell wall-associated pectin-methylesterases during the metabolism of pectin. In addition, methylobacteria produce phytohormones such as cytokinin and auxin and thus stimulate the growth of plants.

Figure: Growth of Methylobacterium extorquens strain CCOS 151 (isolated from soybean leaf) forming pink colonies on R2A agar with methanol

Methylobacterium sp. strains CCOS 141, CCOS 142, CCOS 146, CCOS 147 and CCOS 158 for example were isolated from clover (Trifolium repens) leaves in Switzerland (deposition: Julia Vorholt and Claudia Knief, ETH Zurich, Institute of Microbiology). Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC)-PCR fingerprinting was used to confirm that all 5 strains were different. Based on partial 16S rDNA sequence homology, strains CCOS 141, 142, 146 and 147 are closely related to Methylobacterium marchantiae and strain CCOS 158 is closely related to Methylobacterium adhaesivum.

Please contact us for further details and to place an order.