Charles W. Culbertson Ronald S. Oremland 1992 <p><span>METHANE is a greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere is increasing</span><span>. Much of this methane is derived from the metabolism of methane-generating (methanogenic) bacteria</span><span>&nbsp;and over the past two decades much has been learned about the ecology of methanogens; specific inhibitors of methanogenesis, such as 2-bromoethanesulphonic acid, have proved useful in this regard</span><span>. In contrast, although much is known about the biochemistry of methane-oxidizing (methanotrophic) bacteria</span><span>, ecological investigations have been hampered by the lack of an analogous specific inhibitor</span><span>. Methanotrophs limit the flux of methane to the atmosphere from sediments</span><span>&nbsp;and consume atmospheric methane</span><span>, but the quantitative importance of methanotrophy in the global methane budget is not well known</span><span>. Methylfluoride (CH</span>₃<span>F) is known to inhibit oxygen consumption by&nbsp;</span><i>Methylococcus capsu-latus</i><span>, and to inhibit the oxidation of&nbsp;</span>¹⁴<span>CH</span>₄<span>&nbsp;to&nbsp;</span>¹⁴<span>CO</span>₂<span>&nbsp;by endosymbionts in mussel gill tissues</span><span>. Here we report that methylfluoride (MF) inhibits the oxidation of methane by methane monooxy-genase, and by using methylfluoride in field investigations, we find that methanotrophic bacteria can consume more than 90% of the methane potentially available.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1038/356421a0 en Springer Importance of methane-oxidizing bacteria in the methane budget as revealed by the use of a specific inhibitor article