Accepted_test
The study of methanotrophic bacteria represents a “hot” research field in microbial biotechnology, as these organisms have the potential to utilize methane as a carbon source for the production of useful target and value-added compounds. Complex interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and target genes are responsible for various molecular and phenotypic features of bacteria, including adaptation to changes in environmental and/or cultivation conditions. Despite the long-term history of methanotrophs’ investigation, both quantitative/qualitative data and knowledge of such interactions are very limited. However, the assumption that regulatory interactions between TFs and target genes are conservative among bacteria allows us to use the accumulated omics data to reconstruct the regulatory structure in closely related species. Herein, we employ the data on expression profiles for two closely related methanotrophs, Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20ZR and Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense 5GB1, to construct the first version of regulons in methane-oxidizing bacteria. This finding sheds light on transcriptional modules regulating molecular machinery in methanotrophs at the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Furthermore, the outcome of this study can be essential to pave the way in the fruitful development of biotechnological applications of methane-oxidizing microorganisms.