science

Methylophaga muralis

Methylophaga muralis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Methylophaga muralis rather than just read about it. In short: Methylophaga muralis is a species of Pseudomonadota. It is capable of surviving in saline and alkaline environments and can obtain its carbon from methanol.

Key takeaways

Methylophaga muralis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Methylophaga muralis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Methylophaga muralis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Methylophaga muralis is a species of Pseudomonadota. It is capable of surviving in saline and alkaline environments and can obtain its carbon from methanol. This species was originally discovered in crumbling marble in the Moscow Kremlin; it has also been found in a soda lake in Buryatia.

Taxonomic history and etymology This species was discovered in scrapings from deteriorating marble monuments in the crypts of the Moscow Kremlin. It was originally named M. murata in its 2005 species description by Russian Academy of Sciences microbiologist Yury Alexandrovich Trotsenko and colleagues, but was renamed in 2011 to M. muralis. The type strain, Kr3, was deposited in the All-Russia Collection of Microorganisms (VKM) and the National Collection of Industrial and Marine Bacteria (NCIMB) culture collections. The specific epithet muralis is a Latin adjective meaning "of or belonging to a wall". Its original specific epithet, murata, means "surrounded by walls".

Distribution and habitat The type strain Kr3 was extracted in Moscow from marble with a pH of 9.1. M. muralis is an example of an endolith, being able to live on rock. Another strain, named Bur 1, was isolated from a soda lake in Khilganta, Buryatia, Russia. The bacteria grows in temperatures of 0–42 °C (32–108 °F), a pH of 6–11, and a sodium chloride concentration of 0.05–3 moles per liter; although the optimal habitat is a temperature of 20–32 °C (68–90 °F), a pH of 8–9, and a sodium chloride concentration of 0.5–1.5 mol/L. It can survive being heated to 70 °C (158 °F), being frozen, or being freeze-dried. As this species is adapted to saline and alkaline environments, it is considered both halophilic and alkaliphilic.

Description and biology M. muralis cells are rod-shaped, with a width of 0.7 μm and a length of 1.7–2.0 μm. Each cell has a flagellum at one of its poles. This species is methylotrophic, meaning it can utilize carbon from one-carbon molecules like methanol and methylamine, although it also obtains carbon from trimethylamine, and fructose. It is an aerobic organism; in addition to requiring oxygen, it also needs vitamin B12 and sodium ions to grow. It is gram-negative, like all Pseudomonadota. Reproduction is done via binary fission; it does not make spores. Its main fatty acids are palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, and octadecanoic acid. The main phospholipids are phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and cardiolipin. Ectoine, glutamate, and, to a lesser extent, sucrose act as osmoprotectants.

Phylogeny Plymouth University microbiologist Rich Boden, using the Tamura–Nei model, has argued on the basis of 16S ribosomal RNA that M. muralis, M. alcalica, and M. lonarensis form a clade to the exclusion of other Methylophaga species including type species of the genus, M. marina. In 2013, INRS microbiologist Richard Villemur and colleagues added their newly described species M. nitratireducenticrescens and M. frappieri to this clade based on 16S rRNA analysis as well. All of the species in this clade are alkaliphilic.

References

External links Type strain of Methylophaga muralis at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Methylophaga muralis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Methylophaga muralis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Methylophaga muralis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Methylophaga muralis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Methylophaga muralis

In research: Methylophaga muralis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Methylophaga muralis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Methylophaga muralis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Alkaliphiles, Bacteria described in 2005, Halophiles, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Methylophaga muralis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Methylophaga muralis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Methylophaga muralis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Methylophaga muralis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Methylophaga muralis in simple terms?

Methylophaga muralis is a species of Pseudomonadota. It is capable of surviving in saline and alkaline environments and can obtain its carbon from methanol.

Why does Methylophaga muralis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Methylophaga muralis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Methylophaga muralis.