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Identification of methyl halide-utilizing genes in strain IMB-1, a methyl bromide-utilizing bacterium suggests a high degree of conservation of methyl halide-specific genes in gram-negative bacteria

C.A. Woodall·K.L. Warner·R.S. Oremland·J.C. Murrell·I.R. McDonald
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Abstract

Strain IMB-1, an aerobic methylotrophic member of the alpha subgroup of the Proteobacteria, can grow with methyl bromide as a sole carbon and energy source. A single cmu gene cluster was identified in IMB-1 that contained six open reading frames: cmuC, cmuA, orf146, paaE, hutI, and partial metF. CmuA from IMB-1 has high sequence homology to the methyltransferase CmuA from Methylobacterium chloromethanicum and Hyphomicrobium chloromethanicum and contains a C-terminal corrinoid-binding motif and an N-terminal methyl-transferase motif. However, cmuB, identified in M. chloromethanicum and H. chloromethanicum, was not detected in IMB-1.

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C.A. Woodall, K.L. Warner, R.S. Oremland, J.C. Murrell, I.R. McDonald. 2001. Identification of methyl halide-utilizing genes in strain IMB-1, a methyl bromide-utilizing bacterium suggests a high degree of conservation of methyl halide-specific genes in gram-negative bacteria. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.67.4.1959-1963.2001

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