3-fold higher at the 1:9 ratio of M6:NM1. These results indicated that NM1 enhanced the transcriptional expression of the genes involved in methane oxidation when NM1 was more abundant than M6, consistent with the population and methane oxidation rate results. Relative expression of FADH was about 2-fold lower than the expression levels of the pMMO and MDH genes. We speculate that some of the formaldehyde produced was used for biosynthesis because formaldehyde has

a central role as an intermediate in catabolism and anabolism [9]. Increased transcriptional expression of these genes was likely responsible for the increased oxidation rate measured at the 1:9 ratio of M6:NM1. Similarly, [11] reported that the amount of mRNA copies was correlated with the activity in the reactor. PLX3397 mw We demonstrated that NM1 concurrently enhanced the population growth of M6 and the expression of the methane-oxidation genes in a density-dependent manner. The two types of bacterial cells were mixed on the basis of cell number. Because the mass of NM1 cells is 5.7-fold less than that of M6, the mass-ratio of NM1 to M6 was estimated

selleck inhibitor to be 0.02, 0.19, and 1.68 at the 9:1, 1:1, and 1:9 ratios of M6:NM1. NM1 only had significant effects on the activity and growth of M6 at the 1:9 ratio of M6:NM1, indicating that NM1 had a significant effect on M6 only when it was present at higher mass than M6. Previous studies have shown that a few vitamins and organic acids can enhance methanotrophic growth [31]. For instance, [13] reported that cobalamin (vitamin B12) produced by Rhizobium stimulated the growth and activity of several methanotrophs, including Methylomonas and Methylovulum. Xing et al. [31] reported that riboflavin and organic acids (maleate, succinate, malate, and citrate) induced the population growth of Methylosinus. Thus, we hypothesize that extracellular substances from NM1 enhanced the population growth of M6 as well as the expression of the methane-oxidation enzymes in M6. Further investigations of the metabolic interactions between these two organisms are warranted. Our results also imply

that methane oxidizers may Tolmetin commonly interact with other organisms in natural environments. This is the first study to report that the non-methanotrophic bacterium Sphingopyxis enhances the activity of the type II methanotroph Methylocystis. We demonstrated that NM1 enhanced the population growth of M6 as well as the expression of the genes involved in the methane oxidation pathway in a density-dependent manner. These results can be used to develop and guide management and enhancement strategies for methanotrophic biotechnological processes. For instance, this stimulation can be used for accelerating start-up in methanotrophic systems. This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science (2012R1A2A2A03046724) and by the Ministry of Education (2013R1A1A2061015).