SUMMARY: A methane-oxidizing bacterium, isolated from soil, was capable of fixing nitrogen. Nitrogenase activity could be assayed by acetylene reduction when the bacterium was growing on methanol but not when growing on methane, although 15N2 was fixed. Bacteria growing on methane co-oxidized ethylene but methanolgrowing cells did not. The organism was extremely sensitive to oxygen when dependent on N2 as nitrogen source, a consequence of the sensitivity of its nitrogenase towards oxygen.
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