Distribution and diversity of V errucomicrobia methanotrophs in geothermal and acidic environments

Recently, methanotrophic members of the phylum V errucomicrobia have been described, but little is known about their distribution in nature. We surveyed methanotrophic bacteria in geothermal springs and acidic wetlands via pyrosequencing of 16 S rRNA gene amplicons. Putative methanotrophic V errucomicrobia were found in samples covering a broad temperature range (22.5–81.6° C ), but only in acidic conditions ( pH 1.8–5.0) and only in geothermal environments, not in acidic bogs or fens. Phylogenetically, three 16 S rRNA gene sequence clusters of putative methanotrophic V errucomicrobia were observed. Those detected in high‐temperature geothermal samples (44.1–81.6° C ) grouped with known thermoacidiphilic ‘ M ethylacidiphilum ’ isolates. A second group dominated in moderate‐temperature geothermal samples (22.5–40.1° C ) and a representative mesophilic methanotroph from this group was isolated (strain LP 2 A ). Genome sequencing verified that strain LP 2 A possessed particulate methane monooxygenase, but its 16 S rRNA gene sequence identity to ‘ M ethylacidiphilum infernorum ’ strain V4 was only 90.6%. A third group clustered distantly with known methanotrophic V errucomicrobia . Using pmoA ‐gene targeted quantitative polymerase chain reaction, two geothermal soil profiles showed a dominance of LP 2 A ‐like pmoA sequences in the cooler surface layers and ‘ M ethylacidiphilum'‐ like pmoA sequences in deeper, hotter layers. Based on these results, there appears to be a thermophilic group and a mesophilic group of methanotrophic V errucomicrobia . However, both were detected only in acidic geothermal environments.