= Methylotrophy
\b[Methylotrophy] is the ability to grow using reduced carbon compounds with no carbon–carbon bonds, such as <methanol>, as carbon and energy sources. It requires both energy-yielding transformations and <carbon assimilation> into <biomass>. Facultative methylotrophs can also use other carbon sources; the historical description of <Methylobacterium> explicitly distinguished this metabolic flexibility.<Methylobacterium, a New Genus of Facultatively Methylotrophic Bacteria by T. E. Patt and others>[Primary Abstract: facultative carbon-source use]{ref}
The two carbon fates are different. Complete <methanol> oxidation can be represented by
$$
\mathrm{2CH_3OH+3O_2\longrightarrow2CO_2+4H_2O}.
$$
This balanced equation accounts for carbon oxidized to <carbon dioxide>, not for net cell production. A growing methylotroph must retain carbon in cellular material as well. In the studied <Methylobacterium> pathway, <formaldehyde> is an intermediate at the junction of oxidation and assimilation routes.<Methylotrophic metabolism is advantageous for Methylobacterium extorquens during colonization of Medicago truncatula under competitive conditions by Abdoulaye Sy and others>[Figure1: one-carbon metabolism and partitioning of formaldehyde]{ref}
A2005 plant-colonization experiment by <Abdoulaye Sy> and colleagues compared wild-type bacteria with mutants defective in methylotrophy. The mutants were disadvantaged during competition, but could reach wild-type colonization levels when introduced alone. This contrast showed that the metabolic ability mattered under the tested competitive conditions, while other usable carbon sources remained available on the plants. Growth in isolation and fitness in a <microbial community> therefore answered different questions.<Methylotrophic metabolism is advantageous for Methylobacterium extorquens during colonization of Medicago truncatula under competitive conditions by Abdoulaye Sy and others>[Abstract and Figures2–3: competition versus single inoculation]{ref}
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