Characterization of toluene metabolism by methanotroph and its effect on methane oxidation

Methanotrophs not only oxidize CH 4 , but also can oxidize a relatively broad range of other substrates, including trichloroethylene, alkanes, alkenes, and aromatic compounds. In this study, Methylosinus sporium was used as a model organism to characterize toluene metabolism by methanotrophs. Reverse transcription quantitative PCR analysis showed that toluene enhanced the mmo X expression of M. sporium . When the toluene concentration was below 2000 mg m −3 , the kinetics of toluene metabolism by M. sporium conformed to the Michaelis-Menten equation ( V max = 0.238 g g dry weight −1 h −1 , K m = 545.2 mg m −3 ). The use of a solid-phase extraction technique followed by a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and molecular docking calculation showed that toluene was likely to primarily bind the di-iron center structural region of soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) hydroxylase and then be oxidized to o-cresol. Although M. sporium oxidized toluene, it did not incorporate toluene into its biomass. The coexistence of toluene and CH 4 could influence CH 4 oxidation, the growth of methanotrophs, and the distribution of CH 4 -derived carbon, which were related to the ratio of the toluene concentration to biomass. These results would be helpful to understand the metabolism of CH 4 and non-methane volatile organic compounds in the environment.