, 1997). A functional heme-binding site of the cytochrome c-type was identified in the predicted Cti polypeptide and direct evidence was obtained that isomerization does not include a transient saturation of the double bond (Holtwick et al., 1999; Junker & Ramos, 1999). Trans fatty acids are generated by direct isomerization of the respective cis configuration of the double bond without
a shift of its position. The conversion of cis unsaturated fatty acids to trans is an adaptive mechanism to decrease membrane fluidity in the presence of changing chemical or physical parameters of the cellular environment. This mechanism appears to be an alternative way to regulate membrane fluidity when growth is inhibited, for example by high concentrations of toxic substances (Segura et al., 1999; Cronan, 2002; Ramos et al., 2001, 2002; Zhang & Rock, 2008). Although the Trichostatin A occurrence of trans monounsaturated fatty acids in aerobic bacteria was verified in 1978 for methane-utilizing bacteria (Makula, 1978), it is still unknown how those fatty acid configurations are synthesized and what is their function in methanotrophic bacteria (Makula, 1978; Nichols et al., 1985; Bowman et al., 1991; Guckert et al., 1991). RO4929097 mouse An ecological function could be to react against
a high concentration of methanol or formaldehyde, which are possible growth substrates or toxic intermediates of methane oxidation, and/or to adapt to other detrimental environmental influences (Keweloh & Heipieper, 1996). Already in 2003, alignment studies Aspartate revealed that genes familiar to cti might also be present in the genomes of bacteria belonging to the genera Methylococcus and Nitrosomonas (Heipieper et al., 2003). Both are also known to contain trans-unsaturated fatty acids (Keweloh & Heipieper, 1996). However, direct physiological or biochemical evidence for the presence of Cti in these bacteria is still missing. This study reports on a systematic investigation of the toxic effects of organic compounds (phenols and alkanols) on the growth of M. capsulatus in order to physiologically
prove the presence of cis–trans isomerization as a membrane-adaptive response mechanism in the type strain of methanotrophic bacteria, M. capsulatus Bath. Methylococcus capsulatus Bath is the reference strain for methanotrophic bacteria and has been described previously (Whittenbury et al., 1970). All chemicals were reagent grade and obtained from commercial sources. Methylococcus capsulatus Bath (NCIMB 11132) was cultivated at 45 °C in a nitrate mineral salt (NMS) medium according to Cornish et al. (1984), which contains (L−1): KH2PO4 (0.53 g), Na2HPO4 (0.86 g), NaNO3 (0.85 g), K2SO4 (0.174 g), MgSO4·7H2O (37 mg), FeSO4·7H2O (11.2 mg), CaCl2·2H2O (7 mg), CuSO4·5H2O (0.218 mg), ZnSO4·7H2O (0.574 mg), MnSO4·H2O (0.338 mg), H3BO3 (0.124 mg), Na2MoO4·2H2O (0.096 mg), CoCl2·6H2O (0.096 mg) and KJ (0.166 mg).
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