1. Department of Microbiology and
2. Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
3. †Present address: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

Correspondence to: Stephen H. Zinder¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to S.H.Z. (Email: shz1@cornell.edu).

Abstract

Acidic peatlands are among the largest natural sources of atmospheric methane and harbour a large diversity of methanogenic Archaea¹. Despite the ubiquity of methanogens in these peatlands, indigenous methanogens capable of growth at acidic pH values have resisted culture and isolation^{2, 3, 4}; these recalcitrant methanogens include members of an uncultured family-level clade in the Methanomicrobiales prevalent in many acidic peat bogs in the Northern Hemisphere^{1, 5, 6}. However, we recently succeeded in obtaining a mixed enrichment culture of a member of this clade⁷. Here we describe its isolation and initial characterization. We demonstrate that the optimum pH for methanogenesis by this organism is lower than that of any previously described methanogen.

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.