Cross Index	Methylobacterium
SuperSet	Prokaryote, Eubacteria, Gram-Negative Aerobic/ Microaerophilic Rods and Cocci
Compare	Acetobacter, Acidiphilium, Acidomonas methanolica, Acidothermus cellulolyticus, Acidovorax, Acinetobacter, Afipia, Agrobacterium, Agromonas oligotrophica, Alcaligenes, Alteromonas, Aminobacter, Aquaspirillum, Azomonas, Azorhizobium caulinodans, Azotobacter, Bacteroides, Beijerinckia, Bordetella, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, Brucella, Chromohalobacter marismortui, Chryseomonas luteola, Comamonas, Cupriavidus necator, Deleya, Derxia gummosa, Ensifer adherans, Erythrobacter longus, Flavimonas oryzihabitans, Flavobacterium, Francisella, Frateuria aurantica, Gluconobacter, Halomonas, Hydrogenophaga, Janthinobacterium lividum, Kingella, Lampropedia hyalina, Legionella, Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus, Marinomonas, Mesophilobacter marinus, Methylobacillus glycogenes, Methylobacterium, Methylococcus, Methylomonas, Methylophaga, Methylophilus, Methylovorus glucosotrophus, Moraxella, Morococcus cerebrosus, Neisseriaceae, Neisseria, Oceanospirillum, Ochrobactrum anthropi, Oligella, Paracoccus, Phenylobacterium immobile, Phyllobacterium, Pseudomonas, Psychrobacter immobilis, Rhizobacter daucus, Rhizobium, Rhizomonas suberifaciens, Rochalimaea, Roseobacter, Rugomonas rubra, Serpens, Sinorhizobium, Sphingobacterium, Taylorella equigenitalis, Thermoleophilum, Thermomicrobium, Thermus, Variovorax paradoxus, Volcaniella eurhalina, Weeksella, Wolinella, Xanthobacter, Xanthomonas, Xyella fastidiosa, Xylophilus ampelinus, Zoogloea ramigera
Contrast	Archaea
Subset	Methylobacterium rhodesianum, Methylobacterium zatmanii , Methylobacterium fujisawaense, Methylobacterium extorquens Methylobacterium organophilum Methylobacterium rhodinum Methylobacterium radiotolerans Methylobacterium mesophilicum

 

Morphology

Methylobacterium

CELLULAR

Staining	Gram negative some strains are Gram variable
Morphology	rods (0.8-1.0 x 1.0- 8.0 um), usually occur singly but occasionally in rosettes. They may be branched and pleomorphic
Motility	motile by means of a single polar, subpolar or lateral flagellum. Some strains are only weakly motile
Specialized structures	often contian large lipid inclusions and sometimes volutin granules

Division

COLONIAL

Solid surface

colonies onf glycerol-peptone agar are 1-3 mm in diameter and pale pink to bright orange red. Pigment is insoluble and may be a carotenoid

Liquid

In static broth cultures strains grow as a pink surface ring or pellicle

 

Growth Parameters

Methylobacterium

PHYSIOLOGICAL

Tropism	chemoorganotroph, facultative methylotrophs, facultative methanotrophs
Oxygen	strict aerobe with respiratory metabolism
pH
Temperature	optimum 25-30 oC
Requirements
Products
Enzymes
Unique features	ability to utilize methane ans the sole carbon source is easily lost unless the cultures and maintained on an inorganic medium under a methane atmosphere

ENVIRONMENTAL

Habitat	soil dust, fresh water, lake sediments, leaf surfaces, and nodules, rice grains and hospital environments
Lifestyle
Pathogenicity

Distribution

 

Genome

Methylobacterium

G+C Mol %

 

Reference

Methylobacterium

First Citation
Emended	Green and Bousfield 1983 IJSB 33: 875-877
The Prokaryotes	p
Bergey's Determinative	p 88

References

Urakami and Komagata 1984 IJSB 34:188-201 created Protomonas extorquens Bousfield and Green 1985 IJSB 35:209 renamed Protomonas extorquens as Methylobacterium extorquens Green et al 1988 IJSB 38:124-127 added the species Methylobacterium rhodesianum, Methylobacterium zatmanii and Methylobacterium fujisawaense