Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA.
Trends Microbiol. 2018 Aug;26(8):703-714. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2018.01.011. Epub 2018 Feb 19.
Methylotrophy is a field of study dealing with microorganisms capable of utilization of compounds devoid of carbon-carbon bonds (C1 compounds). In this review, we highlight several emerging trends in methylotrophy. First, we discuss the significance of the recent discovery of lanthanide-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases for understanding both the occurrence and the distribution of methylotrophy functions among bacteria, and then we discuss the newly appreciated role of lanthanides in biology. Next, we describe the detection of other methylotrophy pathways across novel bacterial taxa and insights into the evolution of methylotrophy. Further, data are presented on the occurrence and activity of aerobic methylotrophs in hypoxic and anoxic environments, questioning the prior assumptions on niche separation of aerobic and anaerobic methylotrophy. The concept of communal function in aerobic methane oxidation is also briefly discussed. Finally, we review recent research in engineering methylotrophs for biotechnological applications as well as recent progress in engineering synthetic methylotrophy.
甲醇营养型是一个研究能够利用缺乏碳-碳键的化合物（C1 化合物）的微生物的领域。在这篇综述中，我们强调了甲醇营养型的几个新兴趋势。首先，我们讨论了最近发现的镧系依赖性醇脱氢酶对于理解细菌中甲醇营养型功能的发生和分布的重要性，然后我们讨论了镧系元素在生物学中的新作用。接下来，我们描述了在新型细菌分类群中检测到的其他甲醇营养型途径以及对甲醇营养型进化的认识。此外，还介绍了在缺氧和无氧环境中好氧甲醇营养型的发生和活性的数据，对好氧和厌氧甲醇营养型的生态位分离的先前假设提出了质疑。好氧甲烷氧化中的公共功能概念也进行了简要讨论。最后，我们综述了用于生物技术应用的工程甲醇营养型和工程合成甲醇营养型的最新研究进展。
