ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Identification of Methanotrophic Bacteria
Community in the Jastrzebie-Moszczenica Coal
Mine by Fluorescence in situ Hybridization
and PCR Techniques
Agnieszka Wolińska, Anna Pytlak, Zofia Stępniewska, Agnieszka Kuźniar,
Cezary Piasecki
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Institute of Biotechnology, Department of Biochemistry and Environmental Chemistry,
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin,
Konstantynów 1 I, 20-708 Lublin, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2013;22(1):275-282
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The aim of our study was to identify the methanotrophic group of bacteria inhabiting coal mine rocks at
the Jastrzębie-Moszczenica (Jas-Mos) coal mine, by application of molecular techniques: polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In the first stage of the experiment, methanotrophic
activity (AM) of the rock material at different temperatures (20 and 30ºC) and methane (CH4) concentrations
(1, 5, 10, 20%) was determined. AM noted both in 20 and 30ºC reached a similar level equaling
c.a. 0.2 μM CH4 g-1·day-1. The PCR reactions were performed using primers specific for pmoA gene (encoding
a key subunit of particulate methane monooxygenase) – A189f and mb661, whereas FISH was realized
with Mg705, Mg84 (Type I of methanotrophs), and Ma450 (Type II of methanotrophs) probes. Sequence
analysis of pmoA gene demonstrated that microorganisms, being present in the investigated rocks material
were similar with 95-100% identity to the following methanotrophs genera: Methylosinus, Methylobacter,
Methylocystis. Concentrations of CH4 between 1-10% did not affect on bacterial variability, but in combination
with 20% of CH4, significant dominance of methanotrophic bacteria Type I was stated.