First genome data from uncultured upland soil cluster alpha methanotrophs provide further evidence for a close phylogenetic relationship to Methylocapsa acidiphila B2 and for high-affinity methanotrophy involving particulate methane monooxygenase.

Members of upland soil cluster alpha (USC alpha) are assumed to be methanotrophic bacteria (MB) adapted to the trace level of atmospheric methane. So far, these MB have eluded all cultivation attempts. While the 16S rRNA phylogeny of USC alpha members is still not known, phylogenies constructed for the active-site polypeptide (encoded by pmoA) of particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) placed USC alpha next to the alphaproteobacterial Methylocapsa acidiphila B2. To assess whether the pmoA tree reflects the evolutionary identity of USC alpha, a 42-kb genomic contig of a USC alpha representative was obtained from acidic forest soil by screening a metagenomic fosmid library of 250,000 clones using pmoA-targeted PCR. For comparison, a 101-kb genomic contig from M. acidiphila was analyzed, including the pmo operon. The following three lines of evidence confirmed a close phylogenetic relationship between USC alpha and M. acidiphila: (i) tetranucleotide frequency patterns of 5-kb genomic subfragments, (ii) annotation and comparative analysis of the genomic fragments against all completely sequenced genomes available in public domain databases, and (iii) three single gene phylogenies constructed using the deduced amino acid sequences of a putative prephenate dehydratase, a staphylococcal-like nuclease, and a putative zinc metalloprotease. A comparative analysis of the pmo operons of USC alpha and M. acidiphila corroborated previous reports that both the pmo operon structure and the predicted secondary structure of deduced pMMO are highly conserved among all MB.