Lake Washington Methane-Oxygen Methylotroph Community

Community ID CommunityMech:000261

Ecological State PERTURBED

Environment freshwater lake sediment
ENVO:00002007

A methane-consuming freshwater lake sediment community from Lake Washington, Seattle, represented by methane-fed sediment microcosms and follow-up community modeling studies. Methane addition selects both bona fide methane-oxidizing Methylococcaceae and non-methanotrophic methylotrophic Methylophilaceae, supporting a guild-based community rather than a single-organism methane oxidation model. Oxygen tension structures specific partnerships: Methylosarcina and Methylophilus dominate higher-oxygen microcosms, whereas Methylobacter and Methylotenera dominate lower-oxygen microcosms. The system is DOE-relevant because it links methane mitigation, freshwater sediment carbon cycling, methylotroph ecology, and genome-scale modeling of methane-cycling communities.

Taxonomy

Taxon	Ontology ID	Functional Roles	Abundance
Lake Washington methane-consuming microbial community	NCBITaxon:131567	PRIMARY_DEGRADER CROSS_FEEDER	N/A
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "methane supplied to lake sediment microbial communities" PMID:32655999 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "Lake Washington is a freshwater lake characterized by a methane-oxygen countergradient"
Methylococcaceae methanotrophs	NCBITaxon:403	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	DOMINANT
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "the methanotrophs of the family Methylococcaceae" PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "methane-consuming communities were represented by two major types"
Methylophilaceae non-methanotrophic methylotrophs	NCBITaxon:32011	CROSS_FEEDER	DOMINANT
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "non-methane-oxidizing bacteria, especially by members of the family Methylophilaceae" PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "non-methanotrophic methylotrophs of the family Methylophilaceae"
Methylobacter	NCBITaxon:429	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	DOMINANT
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "major players were Methylobacter and Methylotenera" PMID:32655999 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "Two significant methanotrophic species in this community are Methylobacter and Methylomonas"
Methylotenera	NCBITaxon:359407	CROSS_FEEDER	DOMINANT
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "major players were Methylobacter and Methylotenera" PMID:25058595 - PARTIAL (COMPUTATIONAL) "novel Methylophilaceae ecotypes from a single ecological niche in Lake Washington"
Methylomonas	NCBITaxon:416	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:32655999 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "Two significant methanotrophic species in this community are Methylobacter and Methylomonas"
Methylosarcina	NCBITaxon:105972	PRIMARY_DEGRADER	N/A
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "species of the genera Methylosarcina and Methylophilus"
Methylophilus	NCBITaxon:16	CROSS_FEEDER	N/A
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "species of the genera Methylosarcina and Methylophilus"

Ecological Interactions

Taxon

Cross-feeding

Mutualism

Syntrophy

Competition

Commensalism

Niche partitioning

Colonization facilitation

Strain competition

Predation

Methanotroph-Methylotroph Guild Coupling

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Methylococcaceae methanotrophs

Target Taxon: Methylophilaceae non-methanotrophic methylotrophs

Metabolites: methane (CHEBI:16183), methanol (CHEBI:17790)

Biological Processes:

methane metabolic process (GO:0015947)

Evidence

PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"likely involves communities composed of different functional guilds"
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"rather than a single type of microbe"

Oxygen-Tension Specific Partnerships

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Biological Processes:

methane metabolic process (GO:0015947)

Evidence

PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"different species persisted under different oxygen tensions"
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO)

"oxygen availability is at least one major factor determining specific partnerships in methane oxidation"

Modeled Methylobacter-Methylomonas Exchange

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Source Taxon: Methylobacter

Target Taxon: Methylomonas

Metabolites: methane (CHEBI:16183), carbon dioxide (CHEBI:16526), formaldehyde (CHEBI:16842)

Biological Processes:

methane metabolic process (GO:0015947)

Evidence

PMID:32655999 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)

"competitive and mutualistic metabolic interactions among Methylobacter and Methylomonas"
PMID:32655999 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)

"excretion of formaldehyde and carbon di-oxide in the community"

Associated Datasets

Dataset	Type	Repository	Accession
Oxygen-gradient Lake Washington methane-consuming microcosms PubMed-indexed PeerJ study of oxygen availability and community composition in methane-fed Lake Washington sediment microcosms.	AMPLICON_16S	OTHER	PMID:25755930
Lake Washington methanotroph genome-scale community modeling Genome-scale metabolic modeling study of Lake Washington Methylobacter and Methylomonas methane-cycling interactions.	OTHER	OTHER	PMID:32655999
Lake Washington Methylophilaceae ecotype genomics Cultivation and genome sequencing study of Lake Washington Methylophilaceae ecotypes relevant to methane oxidation-associated methylotroph communities.	GENOME	OTHER	PMID:25058595

Environmental Factors

Factor	Value	Unit
Methane amendment	methane supplied at the same concentration in each microcosm	N/A
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "methane was supplied at the same concentration in each"
Oxygen tension	five different oxygen tensions	N/A
PMID:25755930 - SUPPORT (IN_VITRO) "five different oxygen tensions"
Methane-oxygen countergradient	freshwater lake methane-oxygen countergradient	N/A
PMID:32655999 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL) "methane-oxygen countergradient"

Growth Media

Lake Washington methane-fed sediment microcosm

Atmosphere AEROBIC

Composition

Component	Concentration	Unit	CHEBI
Methane	N/A	N/A	CHEBI:16183
Oxygen	N/A	N/A	CHEBI:15379

Preparation notes: Lake Washington sediment was incubated in microcosms with methane supplied at a fixed concentration and oxygen supplied across five different tension treatments. Detailed medium chemistry beyond sediment, methane, and oxygen is not asserted here.

Evidence

PMID:25755930

"microcosm incubations with sediment samples from Lake Washington"

PMID:25755930

"methane was supplied at the same concentration in each"