Nickel, cobalt, and molybdenum requirement for growth of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum

Abstract
Growth of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum on H2 and CO2 as sole energy and carbon sources was found to be dependent on Ni, Co, and Mo. At low concentrations of Ni (2, 20 nmol CoCl2 and 20 nmol Na2MoO4 were required. A dependence of growth on Cu, Mn, Zn, Ca, Al, and B could not be demonstrated. Conditions are described under which the bacterium grew exponentially with a doubling time of 1.8 h up to a cell density of 2 g cells (dry weight)/1.