Methylotroph

Methylotrophs are a diverse group of microorganisms that can use reduced one-carbon compounds, such as methanol or methane, as the carbon source for their growth; and multi-carbon compounds that contain no carbon-carbon bonds, such as dimethyl ether and dimethylamine. This group of microorganisms also includes those capable of assimilating reduced one-carbon compounds by way of carbon dioxide using the ribulose bisphosphate pathway. These organisms should not be confused with methanogens which on the contrary produce methane as a by-product from various one-carbon compounds such as carbon dioxide. Some methylotrophs can degrade the greenhouse gas methane, and in this case they are called methanotrophs. The abundance, purity, and low resource cost of methanol compared to commonly used sugars make methylotrophs competent organisms for production of amino acids, vitamins, recombinant proteins, single-cell proteins, co-enzymes and cytochromes.

== Metabolism == thumb|400px|General steps of methylotrophic metabolism displaying 4 known assimilatory methylotrophic pathways. The general catabolic pathway is also shown. Q denotes a membrane-bound quinone. Methane monooxygenase (MMO) and Formate dehydrogenase (FDH) may be membrane-associated or cytoplasmic while Methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) and Formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FALDH) are always membrane-associated.