ABSTRACT
The progress in the understanding of the microbiology and biochemistry of methylotrophs can be attributed largely to Whittenbury and co-workers who isolated and characterized many methane-oxidizing bacteria, and to Quayle and co-workers who unveiled the metabolic pathways of C1 compounds in methylotrophs. Methylotrophic bacteria are recognized by their ability to use, as sole carbon and energy sources for growth, compounds that contain no carbon-carbon bonds and to assimilate carbon as formaldehyde or a mixture of formaldehyde and carbon dioxide. They are different from methanogenic bacteria which produce methane from organic compounds. Methylotrophic bacteria contain two different types of formaldehyde (aldehyde) dehydro genase activity in crude soluble extracts. There are two routes for the oxidation of methylamine in methylotrophic bacteria. The direct route is catalyzed by methylamine dehydrogenase. The second route involves N-methylglutamate as an intermediate. Methylotrophs play an important role in carbon recycling in the biosphere.
