[Refinement of the diagnosis of the genera and species of methane-using bacteria].

The diagnoses of taxons have been corrected for methane assimilating bacteria of the family Methylomonadaceae Leadbetter 1974, of the genera Methylomonas Leadbetter 1974. Methylococcus Foster a. Davis 1966, Methylosinus Whittenbury.

[Thermophilic and thermotolerant bacteria that assimilate methane].

Microorganisms assimilating methane at temperatures above 40 degrees C were isolated from various natural sources: ooze, mud, waste water of coal pits. The bacteria are obligate methylotrophs and are represented by two groups: (a) thermotolerant, growing at 37 to 45 degrees C; and (b) thermophilic, growing at 50 to 62 degrees C. The selective factor used to isolate various physiological forms of methylotrophs is corresponding temperatures of growth which allow to isolate from the same substrate meso-, thermotolerant, and thermophilic forms.

[Method of isolating pure cultures of mesophilic, thermotolerant and thermophilic methane-utilizing bacteria].

The paper describes a technique for isolation of pure cultures of various physiological groups (mesophilic, thermotolerant, and thermophilic) of methylotrophs bacteria. The technique is based on the application of solid media containing simultaneously two sources of carbon: elective for the accompanying microflora and elective for the obligate methylotrophs. If the culture to be studied is inoculated into such a medium, the following colonies will be found: (1) the initial culture; (2) pure cultures of the methylotrophs; and (3) the accompanying microflora.