Expansion of aerobic methanotrophy to the phylum of Actinomycetota and its environmental implications

ABSTRACT For over a century, taxonomically validated pure cultures of aerobic methanotrophs belonged to Pseudomonadota, or since 2007, Verrucomicrobiota. A recent article published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology by H. Kambara, T. Kawamoto, S. Matsushita, T. Kindaichi, et al. (91:e00796-25, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00796-25 ) expands the phylogenetic radiation of aerobic methanotrophs to the Actinomycetota with the description of Ca . Mycobacterium methanica MM1. This isolate confirms and strengthens the position of the genus Mycobacterium as methanotrophs displaying a wide pH and ammonia tolerance and expanding the habitat range for methane capture.