GROWTH-CHARACTERISTICS AND METABOLIC-ACTIVITIES OF THE METHANOTROPHIC-HETEROTROPHIC GROUNDWATER COMMUNITY

In this work the growth characteristics and metabolic activities of th e methanotrophic-heterotrophic groundwater community (culture MM1) as well as of individual community members were studied. When growing in shake flasks, under various methane and oxygen tensions, culture MM1 I revealed the capability; of a stable association consisting of one ob ligate methanotroph with type II intracytoplasmic membranes as the dom inant strain, and four or five heterotrophs of different morphological , physiological and metabolic characteristics. Coexistence of differen t populations and the stability of culture MM1 under various condition s suggested that complex relationships may exist between the community members. Most of these relationships seem to be beneficial for both t he methanotroph and heterotrophs, making the community adaptable to a range of environmental conditions containing methane as the only carbo n source. Furthermore, faster and more complete transformation of 2-[- 4- (sulphophenyl)]decane (2C(10)LAS) by the community than by any of t he community members alone, illustrates the role and importance of met hanotrophic-heterotrophic interactions in combined metabolic attack on complex linear alkylbenzenesulphonates molecules.