1
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Zhou J, Dong L. Structural insights linking H-bridging of archaeal GDGTs to high temperature. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 945:174120. [PMID: 38901598 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2024] [Revised: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/22/2024]
Abstract
Isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs), characteristic membrane lipids of archaea, are widely used in ecological and geochemical studies, especially for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Glycerol monoalkyl glycerol tetraethers (GMGTs, also known as H-GDGTs), a unique variant of GDGTs, have covalent bonds linking the two alkyl chains. Despite some studies suggesting a link between GMGTs and high temperatures, the reliability and mechanisms remain unclear. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we elucidated the mechanism connecting GMGTs to high temperatures. Our findings show that H-bridging linkages reduce the distance between alkyl chains, leading to thicker and denser membranes with lower fluidity and permeability. The diffusion coefficient of GMGTs decreased by approximately 35 % compared to GDGTs, indicating their role as a archaeal high-temperature adaptation. This study provides a mechanistic basis for using archaeal GMGTs in geochemical studies and enhances confidence in their use for paleotemperature reconstruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaming Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Polar Ecosystem and Climate Change, Ministry of Education; and School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China
| | - Liang Dong
- Key Laboratory of Polar Ecosystem and Climate Change, Ministry of Education; and School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China.
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2
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Rahn HP, Sun J, Li Z, Waymouth RM, Levy R, Wender PA. Isoprenoid CARTs: In Vitro and In Vivo mRNA Delivery by Charge-Altering Releasable Transporters Functionalized with Archaea-inspired Branched Lipids. Biomacromolecules 2024; 25:4305-4316. [PMID: 38814265 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.4c00373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
The delivery of oligonucleotides across biological barriers is a challenge of unsurpassed significance at the interface of materials science and medicine, with emerging clinical utility in prophylactic and therapeutic vaccinations, immunotherapies, genome editing, and cell rejuvenation. Here, we address the role of readily available branched lipids in the design, synthesis, and evaluation of isoprenoid charge-altering releasable transporters (CARTs), a pH-responsive oligomeric nanoparticle delivery system for RNA. Systematic variation of the lipid block reveals an emergent relationship between the lipid block and the neutralization kinetics of the polycationic block. Unexpectedly, iA21A11, a CART with the smallest lipid side chain, isoamyl-, was identified as the lead isoprenoid CART for the in vitro transfection of immortalized lymphoblastic cell lines. When administered intramuscularly in a murine model, iA21A11-mRNA complexes induce higher protein expression levels than our previous lead CART, ONA. Isoprenoid CARTs represent a new delivery platform for RNA vaccines and other polyanion-based therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harrison P Rahn
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Jiuzhi Sun
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Zhijian Li
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Robert M Waymouth
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Ronald Levy
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Paul A Wender
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
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3
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Rhim JH, Zhou A, Amenabar MJ, Boyer GM, Elling FJ, Weber Y, Pearson A, Boyd ES, Leavitt WD. Mode of carbon and energy metabolism shifts lipid composition in the thermoacidophile Acidianus. Appl Environ Microbiol 2024; 90:e0136923. [PMID: 38236067 PMCID: PMC10880624 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01369-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The degree of cyclization, or ring index (RI), in archaeal glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids was long thought to reflect homeoviscous adaptation to temperature. However, more recent experiments show that other factors (e.g., pH, growth phase, and energy flux) can also affect membrane composition. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of carbon and energy metabolism on membrane cyclization. To do so, we cultivated Acidianus sp. DS80, a metabolically flexible and thermoacidophilic archaeon, on different electron donor, acceptor, and carbon source combinations (S0/Fe3+/CO2, H2/Fe3+/CO2, H2/S0/CO2, or H2/S0/glucose). We show that differences in energy and carbon metabolism can result in over a full unit of change in RI in the thermoacidophile Acidianus sp. DS80. The patterns in RI correlated with the normalized electron transfer rate between the electron donor and acceptor and did not always align with thermodynamic predictions of energy yield. In light of this, we discuss other factors that may affect the kinetics of cellular energy metabolism: electron transfer chain (ETC) efficiency, location of ETC reaction components (cytoplasmic vs. extracellular), and the physical state of electron donors and acceptors (gas vs. solid). Furthermore, the assimilation of a more reduced form of carbon during heterotrophy appears to decrease the demand for reducing equivalents during lipid biosynthesis, resulting in lower RI. Together, these results point to the fundamental role of the cellular energy state in dictating GDGT cyclization, with those cells experiencing greater energy limitation synthesizing more cyclized GDGTs.IMPORTANCESome archaea make unique membrane-spanning lipids with different numbers of five- or six-membered rings in the core structure, which modulate membrane fluidity and permeability. Changes in membrane core lipid composition reflect the fundamental adaptation strategies of archaea in response to stress, but multiple environmental and physiological factors may affect the needs for membrane fluidity and permeability. In this study, we tested how Acidianus sp. DS80 changed its core lipid composition when grown with different electron donor/acceptor pairs. We show that changes in energy and carbon metabolisms significantly affected the relative abundance of rings in the core lipids of DS80. These observations highlight the need to better constrain metabolic parameters, in addition to environmental factors, which may influence changes in membrane physiology in Archaea. Such consideration would be particularly important for studying archaeal lipids from habitats that experience frequent environmental fluctuations and/or where metabolically diverse archaea thrive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeemin H. Rhim
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, USA
| | - Alice Zhou
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Maximiliano J. Amenabar
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - Grayson M. Boyer
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Felix J. Elling
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Yuki Weber
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ann Pearson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Eric S. Boyd
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - William D. Leavitt
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
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4
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Blum LN, Colman DR, Eloe-Fadrosh EA, Kellom M, Boyd ES, Zhaxybayeva O, Leavitt WD. Distribution and abundance of tetraether lipid cyclization genes in terrestrial hot springs reflect pH. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:1644-1658. [PMID: 37032561 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023]
Abstract
Many Archaea produce membrane-spanning lipids that enable life in extreme environments. These isoprenoid glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) may contain up to eight cyclopentyl and one cyclohexyl ring, where higher degrees of cyclization are associated with more acidic, hotter or energy-limited conditions. Recently, the genes encoding GDGT ring synthases, grsAB, were identified in two Sulfolobaceae; however, the distribution and abundance of grs homologs across environments inhabited by these and related organisms remain a mystery. To address this, we examined the distribution of grs homologs in relation to environmental temperature and pH, from thermal springs across Earth, where sequences derive from metagenomes, metatranscriptomes, single-cell and cultivar genomes. The abundance of grs homologs shows a strong negative correlation to pH, but a weak positive correlation to temperature. Archaeal genomes and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that carry two or more grs copies are more abundant in low pH springs. We also find grs in 12 archaeal classes, with the most representatives in Thermoproteia, followed by MAGs of the uncultured Korarchaeia, Bathyarchaeia and Hadarchaeia, while several Nitrososphaeria encodes >3 copies. Our findings highlight the key role of grs-catalysed lipid cyclization in archaeal diversification across hot and acidic environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura N Blum
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Daniel R Colman
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | | | - Matthew Kellom
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Eric S Boyd
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - Olga Zhaxybayeva
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - William D Leavitt
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
- Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
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5
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Chiu BK, Waldbauer J, Elling FJ, Mete ÖZ, Zhang L, Pearson A, Eggleston EM, Leavitt WD. Membrane lipid and expression responses of Saccharolobus islandicus REY15A to acid and cold stress. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1219779. [PMID: 37649629 PMCID: PMC10465181 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1219779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Archaea adjust the number of cyclopentane rings in their glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) membrane lipids as a homeostatic response to environmental stressors such as temperature, pH, and energy availability shifts. However, archaeal expression patterns that correspond with changes in GDGT composition are less understood. Here we characterize the acid and cold stress responses of the thermoacidophilic crenarchaeon Saccharolobus islandicus REY15A using growth rates, core GDGT lipid profiles, transcriptomics and proteomics. We show that both stressors result in impaired growth, lower average GDGT cyclization, and differences in gene and protein expression. Transcription data revealed differential expression of the GDGT ring synthase grsB in response to both acid stress and cold stress. Although the GDGT ring synthase encoded by grsB forms highly cyclized GDGTs with ≥5 ring moieties, S. islandicus grsB upregulation under acidic pH conditions did not correspond with increased abundances of highly cyclized GDGTs. Our observations highlight the inability to predict GDGT changes from transcription data alone. Broader analysis of transcriptomic data revealed that S. islandicus differentially expresses many of the same transcripts in response to both acid and cold stress. These included upregulation of several biosynthetic pathways and downregulation of oxidative phosphorylation and motility. Transcript responses specific to either of the two stressors tested here included upregulation of genes related to proton pumping and molecular turnover in acid stress conditions and upregulation of transposases in cold stress conditions. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive understanding of the GDGT modifications and differential expression characteristic of the acid stress and cold stress responses in S. islandicus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beverly K. Chiu
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
| | - Jacob Waldbauer
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Felix J. Elling
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
| | - Öykü Z. Mete
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Lichun Zhang
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Ann Pearson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Erin M. Eggleston
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, United States
| | - William D. Leavitt
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
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6
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Romero EL, Morilla MJ. Ether lipids from archaeas in nano-drug delivery and vaccination. Int J Pharm 2023; 634:122632. [PMID: 36690132 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.122632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 12/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Archaea are microorganisms more closely related to eukaryotes than bacteria. Almost 50 years after being defined as a new domain of life on earth, new species continue to be discovered and their phylogeny organized. The study of the relationship between their genetics and metabolism and some of their extreme habitats has even positioned them as a model of extraterrestrial life forms. Archaea, however, are deeply connected to the life of our planet: they can be found in arid, acidic, warm areas; on most of the earth's surface, which is cold (below 5 °C), playing a prominent role in the cycles of organic materials on a global scale and they are even part of our microbiota. The constituent materials of these microorganisms differ radically from those produced by eukaryotes and bacteria, and the nanoparticles that can be manufactured using their ether lipids as building blocks exhibit unique properties that are of interest in nanomedicine. Here, we present for the first time a complete overview of the pre-clinical applications of nanomedicines based on ether archaea lipids, focused on drug delivery and adjuvancy over the last 25 years, along with a discussion on their pros, cons and their future industrial implementation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eder Lilia Romero
- Nanomedicines Research and Development Centre (NARD), Science and Technology Department, National University of Quilmes, Roque Sáenz Peña 352, Bernal, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Maria Jose Morilla
- Nanomedicines Research and Development Centre (NARD), Science and Technology Department, National University of Quilmes, Roque Sáenz Peña 352, Bernal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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7
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Abstract
Archaeal membrane lipids are widely used for paleotemperature reconstructions, yet these molecular fossils also bear rich information about ecology and evolution of marine ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA). Here we identified thermal and nonthermal behaviors of archaeal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) by comparing the GDGT-based temperature index (TEX86) to the ratio of GDGTs with two and three cyclopentane rings (GDGT-2/GDGT-3). Thermal-dependent biosynthesis should increase TEX86 and decrease GDGT-2/GDGT-3 when the ambient temperature increases. This presumed temperature-dependent (PTD) trend is observed in GDGTs derived from cultures of thermophilic and mesophilic AOA. The distribution of GDGTs in suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediments collected from above the pycnocline-shallow water samples-also follows the PTD trend. These similar GDGT distributions between AOA cultures and shallow water environmental samples reflect shallow ecotypes of marine AOA. While there are currently no cultures of deep AOA clades, GDGTs derived from deep water SPM and marine sediment samples exhibit nonthermal behavior deviating from the PTD trend. The presence of deep AOA increases the GDGT-2/GDGT-3 ratio and distorts the temperature-controlled correlation between GDGT-2/GDGT-3 and TEX86. We then used Gaussian mixture models to statistically characterize these diagnostic patterns of modern AOA ecology from paleo-GDGT records to infer the evolution of marine AOA from the Mid-Mesozoic to the present. Long-term GDGT-2/GDGT-3 trends suggest a suppression of today's deep water marine AOA during the Mesozoic-early Cenozoic greenhouse climates. Our analysis provides invaluable insights into the evolutionary timeline and the expansion of AOA niches associated with major oceanographic and climate changes.
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8
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Tourte M, Schaeffer P, Grossi V, Oger PM. Membrane adaptation in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus relies upon a novel strategy involving glycerol monoalkyl glycerol tetraether lipids. Environ Microbiol 2022; 24:2029-2046. [PMID: 35106897 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Microbes preserve membrane functionality under fluctuating environmental conditions by modulating their membrane lipid composition. Although several studies have documented membrane adaptations in Archaea, the influence of most biotic and abiotic factors on archaeal lipid compositions remains underexplored. Here, we studied the influence of temperature, pH, salinity, the presence/absence of elemental sulfur, the carbon source, and the genetic background on the lipid core composition of the hyperthermophilic neutrophilic marine archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus. Every growth parameter tested affected the lipid core composition to some extent, the carbon source and the genetic background having the greatest influence. Surprisingly, P. furiosus appeared to only marginally rely on the two major responses implemented by Archaea, i.e., the regulation of the ratio of diether to tetraether lipids and that of the number of cyclopentane rings in tetraethers. Instead, this species increased the ratio of glycerol monoalkyl glycerol tetraethers (GMGT, aka. H-shaped tetraethers) to glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetrathers (GDGT) in response to decreasing temperature and pH and increasing salinity, thus providing for the first time evidence of adaptive functions for GMGT. Besides P. furiosus, numerous other species synthesize significant proportions of GMGT, which suggests that this unprecedented adaptive strategy might be common in Archaea. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Tourte
- Univ Lyon, Univ. Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5240, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France.,Univ Lyon, INSA Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5240, F-69621, Villeurbanne, France
| | | | - Vincent Grossi
- Univ Lyon, Univ. Lyon 1, CNRS, ENSL, UJM, UMR 5276 LGL-TPE, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France
| | - Philippe M Oger
- Univ Lyon, INSA Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5240, F-69621, Villeurbanne, France
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9
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Falk ID, Gál B, Bhattacharya A, Wei JH, Welander PV, Boxer SG, Burns NZ. Enantioselective Total Synthesis of the Archaeal Lipid Parallel GDGT‐0 (Isocaldarchaeol)**. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.202104051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Isaac D. Falk
- Department of Chemistry Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Bálint Gál
- Department of Chemistry Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | | | - Jeremy H. Wei
- Department of Earth System Science Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Paula V. Welander
- Department of Earth System Science Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Steven G. Boxer
- Department of Chemistry Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
| | - Noah Z. Burns
- Department of Chemistry Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
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10
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Falk ID, Gál B, Bhattacharya A, Wei JH, Welander PV, Boxer SG, Burns NZ. Enantioselective Total Synthesis of the Archaeal Lipid Parallel GDGT-0 (Isocaldarchaeol)*. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2021; 60:17491-17496. [PMID: 33930240 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202104051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Archaeal glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGT) are some of the most unusual membrane lipids identified in nature. These amphiphiles are the major constituents of the membranes of numerous Archaea, some of which are extremophilic organisms. Due to their unique structures, there has been significant interest in studying both the biophysical properties and the biosynthesis of these molecules. However, these studies have thus far been hampered by limited access to chemically pure samples. Herein, we report a concise and stereoselective synthesis of the archaeal tetraether lipid parallel GDGT-0 and the synthesis and self-assembly of derivatives bearing different polar groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac D Falk
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Bálint Gál
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | | | - Jeremy H Wei
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Paula V Welander
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Steven G Boxer
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Noah Z Burns
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
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11
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LoRicco JG, Salvador-Castell M, Demé B, Peters J, Oger PM. Apolar Polyisoprenoids Located in the Midplane of the Bilayer Regulate the Response of an Archaeal-Like Membrane to High Temperature and Pressure. Front Chem 2020; 8:594039. [PMID: 33282836 PMCID: PMC7689154 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2020.594039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Archaea are known to inhabit some of the most extreme environments on Earth. The ability of archaea possessing membrane bilayers to adapt to high temperature (>85°C) and high pressure (>1,000 bar) environments is proposed to be due to the presence of apolar polyisoprenoids at the midplane of the bilayer. In this work, we study the response of this novel membrane architecture to both high temperature and high hydrostatic pressure using neutron diffraction. A mixture of two diether, phytanyl chain lipids (DoPhPC and DoPhPE) and squalane was used to model this novel architecture. Diffraction data indicate that at high temperatures a stable coexistence of fluid lamellar phases exists within the membrane and that stable coexistence of these phases is also possible at high pressure. Increasing the amount of squalane in the membrane regulates the phase separation with respect to both temperature and pressure, and also leads to an increase in the lamellar repeat spacing. The ability of squalane to regulate the ultrastructure of an archaea-like membrane at high pressure and temperature supports the hypothesis that archaea can use apolar lipids as an adaptive mechanism to extreme conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Bruno Demé
- Department of Large Scale Structures, Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France
| | - Judith Peters
- Department of Large Scale Structures, Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France
- Department of Spectroscopy, Université Grenoble Alpes, LiPhy, Grenoble, France
| | - Philippe M. Oger
- Univ Lyon, INSA de Lyon, CNRS, MAP UMR 5240, Villeurbanne, France
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12
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Vitkova V, Mitkova D, Yordanova V, Pohl P, Bakowsky U, Staneva G, Batishchev O. Elasticity and phase behaviour of biomimetic membrane systems containing tetraether archaeal lipids. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.124974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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13
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Salvador-Castell M, Demé B, Oger P, Peters J. Lipid Phase Separation Induced by the Apolar Polyisoprenoid Squalane Demonstrates Its Role in Membrane Domain Formation in Archaeal Membranes. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2020; 36:7375-7382. [PMID: 32515591 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c00901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Archaea synthesize methyl-branched, ether phospholipids, which confer the archaeal membrane exceptional physicochemical properties. A novel membrane organization was proposed recently to explain the thermal and high pressure tolerance of the polyextremophilic archaeon Thermococcus barophilus. According to this theoretical model, apolar molecules could populate the midplane of the bilayer and could alter the physicochemical properties of the membrane, among which is the possibility to form membrane domains. We tested this hypothesis using neutron diffraction on a model archaeal membrane composed of two archaeal diether lipids with phosphocholine and phosphoethanolamine headgroups in the presence of the apolar polyisoprenoid squalane. We show that squalane is inserted in the midplane at a maximal concentration between 5 and 10 mol % and that squalane can modify the lateral organization of the membrane and induces the coexistence of separate phases. The lateral reorganization is temperature- and squalane concentration-dependent and could be due to the release of lipid chain frustration and the induction of a negative curvature in the lipids.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Bruno Demé
- Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble Cedex 9 F-38042, France
| | - Phil Oger
- INSA Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS, UMR5240, Villeurbanne 69621, France
| | - Judith Peters
- Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble Cedex 9 F-38042, France
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LIPhy, Grenoble 38000, France
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14
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The Cell Membrane of Sulfolobus spp.-Homeoviscous Adaption and Biotechnological Applications. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21113935. [PMID: 32486295 PMCID: PMC7312580 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21113935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Revised: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The microbial cell membrane is affected by physicochemical parameters, such as temperature and pH, but also by the specific growth rate of the host organism. Homeoviscous adaption describes the process of maintaining membrane fluidity and permeability throughout these environmental changes. Archaea, and thereby, Sulfolobus spp. exhibit a unique lipid composition of ether lipids, which are altered in regard to the ratio of diether to tetraether lipids, number of cyclopentane rings and type of head groups, as a coping mechanism against environmental changes. The main biotechnological application of the membrane lipids of Sulfolobus spp. are so called archaeosomes. Archaeosomes are liposomes which are fully or partly generated from archaeal lipids and harbor the potential to be used as drug delivery systems for vaccines, proteins, peptides and nucleic acids. This review summarizes the influence of environmental parameters on the cell membrane of Sulfolobus spp. and the biotechnological applications of their membrane lipids.
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15
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Boyer GM, Schubotz F, Summons RE, Woods J, Shock EL. Carbon Oxidation State in Microbial Polar Lipids Suggests Adaptation to Hot Spring Temperature and Redox Gradients. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:229. [PMID: 32153529 PMCID: PMC7044123 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The influence of oxidation-reduction (redox) potential on the expression of biomolecules is a topic of ongoing exploration in geobiology. In this study, we investigate the novel possibility that structures and compositions of lipids produced by microbial communities are sensitive to environmental redox conditions. We extracted lipids from microbial biomass collected along the thermal and redox gradients of four alkaline hot springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and investigated patterns in the average oxidation state of carbon (ZC), a metric calculated from the chemical formulae of lipid structures. Carbon in intact polar lipids (IPLs) and their alkyl chains becomes more oxidized (higher ZC) with increasing distance from each of the four hot spring sources. This coincides with decreased water temperature and increased concentrations of oxidized inorganic solutes, such as dissolved oxygen, sulfate, and nitrate. Carbon in IPLs is most reduced (lowest ZC) in the hot, reduced conditions upstream, with abundance-weighted ZC values between −1.68 and −1.56. These values increase gradually downstream to around −1.36 to −1.33 in microbial communities living between 29.0 and 38.1°C. This near-linear increase in ZC can be attributed to a shift from ether-linked to ester-linked alkyl chains, a decrease in average aliphatic carbons per chain (nC), an increase in average degree of unsaturation per chain (nUnsat), and increased cyclization in tetraether lipids. The ZC of lipid headgroups and backbones did not change significantly downstream. Expression of lipids with relatively reduced carbon under reduced conditions and oxidized lipids under oxidized conditions may indicate microbial adaptation across environmental gradients in temperature and electron donor/acceptor supply.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grayson M Boyer
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
| | - Florence Schubotz
- MARUM and Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Roger E Summons
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Jade Woods
- Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Everett L Shock
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.,School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
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16
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Zhou A, Weber Y, Chiu BK, Elling FJ, Cobban AB, Pearson A, Leavitt WD. Energy flux controls tetraether lipid cyclization in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. Environ Microbiol 2019; 22:343-353. [PMID: 31696620 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2019] [Revised: 10/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Microorganisms regulate the composition of their membranes in response to environmental cues. Many Archaea maintain the fluidity and permeability of their membranes by adjusting the number of cyclic moieties within the cores of their glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids. Cyclized GDGTs increase membrane packing and stability, which has been shown to help cells survive shifts in temperature and pH. However, the extent of this cyclization also varies with growth phase and electron acceptor or donor limitation. These observations indicate a relationship between energy metabolism and membrane composition. Here we show that the average degree of GDGT cyclization increases with doubling time in continuous cultures of the thermoacidophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius (DSM 639). This is consistent with the behavior of a mesoneutrophile, Nitrosopumilus maritimus SCM1. Together, these results demonstrate that archaeal GDGT distributions can shift in response to electron donor flux and energy availability, independent of pH or temperature. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on GDGTs thus capture the energy available to microbes, which encompasses fluctuations in temperature and pH, as well as electron donor and acceptor availability. The ability of Archaea to adjust membrane composition and packing may be an important strategy that enables survival during episodes of energy stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Zhou
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA
| | - Yuki Weber
- Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02318, USA
| | - Beverly K Chiu
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA
| | - Felix J Elling
- Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02318, USA
| | - Alec B Cobban
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA
| | - Ann Pearson
- Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02318, USA
| | - William D Leavitt
- Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA.,Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755, USA
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17
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Bale NJ, Palatinszky M, Rijpstra WIC, Herbold CW, Wagner M, Sinninghe Damsté JS. Membrane Lipid Composition of the Moderately Thermophilic Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaeon " Candidatus Nitrosotenuis uzonensis" at Different Growth Temperatures. Appl Environ Microbiol 2019; 85:e01332-19. [PMID: 31420340 PMCID: PMC6805073 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01332-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2019] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
"Candidatus Nitrosotenuis uzonensis" is the only cultured moderately thermophilic member of the thaumarchaeotal order Nitrosopumilales (NP) that contains many mesophilic marine strains. We examined its membrane lipid composition at different growth temperatures (37°C, 46°C, and 50°C). Its lipids were all membrane-spanning glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs), with 0 to 4 cyclopentane moieties. Crenarchaeol (cren), the characteristic thaumarchaeotal GDGT, and its isomer (cren') were present in high abundance (30 to 70%). The GDGT polar headgroups were mono-, di-, and trihexoses and hexose/phosphohexose. The ratio of glycolipid to phospholipid GDGTs was highest in the cultures grown at 50°C. With increasing growth temperatures, the relative contributions of cren and cren' increased, while those of GDGT-0 to GDGT-4 (including isomers) decreased. TEX86 (tetraether index of tetraethers consisting of 86 carbons)-derived temperatures were much lower than the actual growth temperatures, further demonstrating that TEX86 does not accurately reflect the membrane lipid adaptation of thermophilic Thaumarchaeota As the temperature increased, specific GDGTs changed relative to their isomers, possibly representing temperature adaption-induced changes in cyclopentane ring stereochemistry. Comparison of a wide range of thaumarchaeotal core lipid compositions revealed that the "Ca Nitrosotenuis uzonensis" cultures clustered separately from other members of the NP order and the Nitrososphaerales (NS) order. While phylogeny generally seems to have a strong influence on GDGT distribution, our analysis of "Ca Nitrosotenuis uzonensis" demonstrates that its terrestrial, higher-temperature niche has led to a lipid composition that clearly differentiates it from other NP members and that this difference is mostly driven by its high cren' content.IMPORTANCE For Thaumarchaeota, the ratio of their glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids depends on growth temperature, a premise that forms the basis of the widely applied TEX86 paleotemperature proxy. A thorough understanding of which GDGTs are produced by which Thaumarchaeota and what the effect of temperature is on their GDGT composition is essential for constraining the TEX86 proxy. "Ca Nitrosotenuis uzonensis" is a moderately thermophilic thaumarchaeote enriched from a thermal spring, setting it apart in its environmental niche from the other marine mesophilic members of its order. Indeed, we found that the GDGT composition of "Ca Nitrosotenuis uzonensis" cultures was distinct from those of other members of its order and was more similar to those of other thermophilic, terrestrial Thaumarchaeota This suggests that while phylogeny has a strong influence on GDGT distribution, the environmental niche that a thaumarchaeote inhabits also shapes its GDGT composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole J Bale
- NIOZ Royal Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, and Utrecht University, Texel, The Netherlands
| | - Marton Palatinszky
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - W Irene C Rijpstra
- NIOZ Royal Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, and Utrecht University, Texel, The Netherlands
| | - Craig W Herbold
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Michael Wagner
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Center for Microbial Communities, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Jaap S Sinninghe Damsté
- NIOZ Royal Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, and Utrecht University, Texel, The Netherlands
- Faculty of Geosciences, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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18
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Cramwinckel MJ, Huber M, Kocken IJ, Agnini C, Bijl PK, Bohaty SM, Frieling J, Goldner A, Hilgen FJ, Kip EL, Peterse F, van der Ploeg R, Röhl U, Schouten S, Sluijs A. Synchronous tropical and polar temperature evolution in the Eocene. Nature 2018; 559:382-386. [PMID: 29967546 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0272-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Accepted: 04/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Palaeoclimate reconstructions of periods with warm climates and high atmospheric CO2 concentrations are crucial for developing better projections of future climate change. Deep-ocean1,2 and high-latitude3 palaeotemperature proxies demonstrate that the Eocene epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) encompasses the warmest interval of the past 66 million years, followed by cooling towards the eventual establishment of ice caps on Antarctica. Eocene polar warmth is well established, so the main obstacle in quantifying the evolution of key climate parameters, such as global average temperature change and its polar amplification, is the lack of continuous high-quality tropical temperature reconstructions. Here we present a continuous Eocene equatorial sea surface temperature record, based on biomarker palaeothermometry applied on Atlantic Ocean sediments. We combine this record with the sparse existing data4-6 to construct a 26-million-year multi-proxy, multi-site stack of Eocene tropical climate evolution. We find that tropical and deep-ocean temperatures changed in parallel, under the influence of both long-term climate trends and short-lived events. This is consistent with the hypothesis that greenhouse gas forcing7,8, rather than changes in ocean circulation9,10, was the main driver of Eocene climate. Moreover, we observe a strong linear relationship between tropical and deep-ocean temperatures, which implies a constant polar amplification factor throughout the generally ice-free Eocene. Quantitative comparison with fully coupled climate model simulations indicates that global average temperatures were about 29, 26, 23 and 19 degrees Celsius in the early, early middle, late middle and late Eocene, respectively, compared to the preindustrial temperature of 14.4 degrees Celsius. Finally, combining proxy- and model-based temperature estimates with available CO2 reconstructions8 yields estimates of an Eocene Earth system sensitivity of 0.9 to 2.3 kelvin per watt per square metre at 68 per cent probability, consistent with the high end of previous estimates11.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margot J Cramwinckel
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Matthew Huber
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Ilja J Kocken
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Claudia Agnini
- Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Peter K Bijl
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Steven M Bohaty
- Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Joost Frieling
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Aaron Goldner
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | - Frederik J Hilgen
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Elizabeth L Kip
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Francien Peterse
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Robin van der Ploeg
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Ursula Röhl
- MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Stefan Schouten
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry and Utrecht University, Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | - Appy Sluijs
- Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Geoscience, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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19
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Sollich M, Yoshinaga MY, Häusler S, Price RE, Hinrichs KU, Bühring SI. Heat Stress Dictates Microbial Lipid Composition along a Thermal Gradient in Marine Sediments. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1550. [PMID: 28878741 PMCID: PMC5572230 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2017] [Accepted: 07/31/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Temperature exerts a first-order control on microbial populations, which constantly adjust the fluidity and permeability of their cell membrane lipids to minimize loss of energy by ion diffusion across the membrane. Analytical advances in liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry have allowed the detection of a stunning diversity of bacterial and archaeal lipids in extreme environments such as hot springs, hydrothermal vents and deep subsurface marine sediments. Here, we investigated a thermal gradient from 18 to 101°C across a marine sediment field and tested the hypothesis that cell membrane lipids provide a major biochemical basis for the bioenergetics of archaea and bacteria under heat stress. This paper features a detailed lipidomics approach with the focus on membrane lipid structure-function. Membrane lipids analyzed here include polar lipids of bacteria and polar and core lipids of archaea. Reflecting the low permeability of their ether-linked isoprenoids, we found that archaeal polar lipids generally dominate over bacterial lipids in deep layers of the sediments influenced by hydrothermal fluids. A close examination of archaeal and bacterial lipids revealed a membrane quandary: not only low permeability, but also increased fluidity of membranes are required as a unified property of microbial membranes for energy conservation under heat stress. For instance, bacterial fatty acids were composed of longer chain lengths in concert with higher degree of unsaturation while archaea modified their tetraethers by incorporation of additional methyl groups at elevated sediment temperatures. It is possible that these configurations toward a more fluidized membrane at elevated temperatures are counterbalanced by the high abundance of archaeal glycolipids and bacterial sphingolipids, which could reduce membrane permeability through strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding. Our results provide a new angle for interpreting membrane lipid structure-function enabling archaea and bacteria to survive and grow in hydrothermal systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Sollich
- University of Bremen, MARUM Center for Marine Environmental SciencesBremen, Germany
| | - Marcos Y Yoshinaga
- University of Bremen, MARUM Center for Marine Environmental SciencesBremen, Germany.,Institute of Chemistry, University of São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Stefan Häusler
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine MicrobiologyBremen, Germany
| | - Roy E Price
- University of Bremen, MARUM Center for Marine Environmental SciencesBremen, Germany.,School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony BrookNY, United States
| | - Kai-Uwe Hinrichs
- University of Bremen, MARUM Center for Marine Environmental SciencesBremen, Germany
| | - Solveig I Bühring
- University of Bremen, MARUM Center for Marine Environmental SciencesBremen, Germany
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20
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Abstract
Microbial communities adjust the chemical structure of their cell membranes in response to environmental temperature. This enables the development of lipid-based paleothermometers such as the glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) proxies described here. Surface-sediment calibrations establish a strong empirical relationship between the relative distribution of GDGTs and temperature. GDGT proxies can be used in marine, lacustrine, and paleosol sequences as long as the organic material is not thermally mature. Thus far, GDGT proxies have been applied to sediments dating back to the middle Jurassic. Many of the key uncertainties of these proxies are related to our emerging understanding of archaeal (and for the branched GDGTs, bacterial) ecology.
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21
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Siliakus MF, van der Oost J, Kengen SWM. Adaptations of archaeal and bacterial membranes to variations in temperature, pH and pressure. Extremophiles 2017; 21:651-670. [PMID: 28508135 PMCID: PMC5487899 DOI: 10.1007/s00792-017-0939-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 197] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2016] [Accepted: 04/29/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The cytoplasmic membrane of a prokaryotic cell consists of a lipid bilayer or a monolayer that shields the cellular content from the environment. In addition, the membrane contains proteins that are responsible for transport of proteins and metabolites as well as for signalling and energy transduction. Maintenance of the functionality of the membrane during changing environmental conditions relies on the cell's potential to rapidly adjust the lipid composition of its membrane. Despite the fundamental chemical differences between bacterial ester lipids and archaeal ether lipids, both types are functional under a wide range of environmental conditions. We here provide an overview of archaeal and bacterial strategies of changing the lipid compositions of their membranes. Some molecular adjustments are unique for archaea or bacteria, whereas others are shared between the two domains. Strikingly, shared adjustments were predominantly observed near the growth boundaries of bacteria. Here, we demonstrate that the presence of membrane spanning ether-lipids and methyl branches shows a striking relationship with the growth boundaries of archaea and bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melvin F Siliakus
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research, Stippeneng 4, 6708 WE, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - John van der Oost
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research, Stippeneng 4, 6708 WE, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Servé W M Kengen
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University and Research, Stippeneng 4, 6708 WE, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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22
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Huguet C, Fietz S, Rosell-Melé A, Daura X, Costenaro L. Molecular dynamics simulation study of the effect of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether hydroxylation on membrane thermostability. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2017; 1859:966-974. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2016] [Revised: 02/12/2017] [Accepted: 02/14/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
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23
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Caforio A, Driessen AJM. Archaeal phospholipids: Structural properties and biosynthesis. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids 2016; 1862:1325-1339. [PMID: 28007654 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2016.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2016] [Revised: 12/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/15/2016] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Phospholipids are major components of the cellular membranes present in all living organisms. They typically form a lipid bilayer that embroiders the cell or cellular organelles, constitute a barrier for ions and small solutes and form a matrix that supports the function of membrane proteins. The chemical composition of the membrane phospholipids present in the two prokaryotic domains Archaea and Bacteria are vastly different. Archaeal lipids are composed of highly-methylated isoprenoid chains that are ether-linked to a glycerol-1-phosphate backbone while bacterial phospholipids consist of straight fatty acids bound by ester bonds to the enantiomeric glycerol-3-phosphate backbone. The chemical structure of the archaeal lipids and their compositional diversity ensures the required stability at extreme environmental conditions as many archaea thrive at such conditions including high or low temperature, high salinity and extreme acidic or alkaline pH values. However, not all archaea are extremophiles, and the presence of ether-linked phospholipids is a phylogenetic marker that distinguishes Archaea from other life forms. During the past decade, our understanding of the biosynthesis of archaeal lipids has progressed resulting in the characterization of the main biosynthetic steps of the pathway including the reconstitution of lipid biosynthesis in vitro. Here we describe the chemical and physical properties of archaeal lipids and membranes derived thereof, summarize the existing knowledge about the enzymology of the archaeal lipid biosynthetic pathway and discuss evolutionary theories associated with the "Lipid Divide" that resulted in the differentiation of bacterial and archaeal organisms. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Bacterial Lipids edited by Russell E. Bishop.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonella Caforio
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands; The Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands; The Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
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24
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Feyhl-Buska J, Chen Y, Jia C, Wang JX, Zhang CL, Boyd ES. Influence of Growth Phase, pH, and Temperature on the Abundance and Composition of Tetraether Lipids in the Thermoacidophile Picrophilus torridus. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:1323. [PMID: 27625636 PMCID: PMC5003844 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The abundance and composition of glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) and glycerol tribiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GTGT) lipids were determined as a function of growth phase as a proxy for nutrient availability, the pH of growth medium, and incubation temperature in cultures of the thermoacidophile Picrophilus torridus. Regardless of the cultivation condition, the abundance of GDGTs and GTGTs was greater in the polar than core fraction, with a marked decrease in core GDGTs in cultures harvested during log phase growth. These data are consistent with previous suggestions indicating that core GDGTs are re-functionalized during polar lipid synthesis. Under all conditions examined, polar lipids were enriched in a GDGT with 2 cyclopentyl rings (GDGT-2), indicating GDGT-2 is the preferred lipid in this taxon. However, lag or stationary phase grown cells or cells subjected to pH or thermal stress were enriched in GDGTs with 4, 5, or 6 rings and depleted in GDGTs with 1, 2, 3, rings relative to log phase cells grown under optimal conditions. Variation in the composition of polar GDGT lipids in cells harvested during various growth phases tended to be greater than in cells cultivated over a pH range of 0.3–1.1 and a temperature range of 53–63°C. These results suggest that the growth phase, the pH of growth medium, and incubation temperature are all important factors that shape the composition of tetraether lipids in Picrophilus. The similarity in enrichment of GDGTs with more rings in cultures undergoing nutrient, pH, and thermal stress points to GDGT cyclization as a generalized physiological response to stress in this taxon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayme Feyhl-Buska
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State University Bozeman, MT, USA
| | - Yufei Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University Shanghai, China
| | - Chengling Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University Shanghai, China
| | - Jin-Xiang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University Shanghai, China
| | - Chuanlun L Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University Shanghai, China
| | - Eric S Boyd
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Montana State UniversityBozeman, MT, USA; NASA Astrobiology InstituteMountain View, CA, USA
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25
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Abstract
Because membranes play a central role in regulating fluxes inward and outward from the cells, maintaining the appropriate structure of the membrane is crucial to maintain cellular integrity and functions. Microbes often face contrasted and fluctuating environmental conditions, to which they need to adapt or die. Membrane adaptation is achieved by a modification of the membrane lipid composition, a strategy termed homeoviscous adaptation. Homeoviscous adaptation in archaea involves strategies similar to that observed in bacteria and eucarya, such as the regulation of lipid chain length or saturation levels, as well as strategies specific to archaea, such as the regulation of the number of cycles along the isoprenoid chains or the regulation of the ratio between mono and bipolar lipids. Although not described yet described in hyperthermophilic bacteria, it is possible that these two strategies also apply to these latter organisms.
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26
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Cario A, Grossi V, Schaeffer P, Oger PM. Membrane homeoviscous adaptation in the piezo-hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus barophilus. Front Microbiol 2015; 6:1152. [PMID: 26539180 PMCID: PMC4612709 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2015] [Accepted: 10/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The archaeon Thermococcus barophilus, one of the most extreme members of hyperthermophilic piezophiles known thus far, is able to grow at temperatures up to 103°C and pressures up to 80 MPa. We analyzed the membrane lipids of T. barophilus by high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry as a function of pressure and temperature. In contrast to previous reports, we show that under optimal growth conditions (40 MPa, 85°C) the membrane spanning tetraether lipid GDGT-0 (sometimes called caldarchaeol) is a major membrane lipid of T. barophilus together with archaeol. Increasing pressure and decreasing temperature lead to an increase of the proportion of archaeol. Reversely, a higher proportion of GDGT-0 is observed under low pressure and high temperature conditions. Noticeably, pressure and temperature fluctuations also impact the level of unsaturation of apolar lipids having an irregular polyisoprenoid carbon skeleton (unsaturated lycopane derivatives), suggesting a structural role for these neutral lipids in the membrane of T. barophilus. Whether these apolar lipids insert in the membrane or not remains to be addressed. However, our results raise questions about the structure of the membrane in this archaeon and other Archaea harboring a mixture of di- and tetraether lipids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anaïs Cario
- CNRS, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, UMR 5276, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France
| | - Vincent Grossi
- CNRS, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, UMR 5276, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France
| | - Philippe Schaeffer
- CNRS, Laboratoire de Biogéochimie Moléculaire, Institut de Chimie de Strasbourg, Ecole de Chimie, Polymères et Matériaux, UMR 7177, Université de Strasbourg Strasbourg, France
| | - Philippe M Oger
- CNRS, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, UMR 5276, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France
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27
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A TEX₈₆ surface sediment database and extended Bayesian calibration. Sci Data 2015; 2:150029. [PMID: 26110065 PMCID: PMC4477698 DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2015.29] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2015] [Accepted: 05/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Quantitative estimates of past temperature changes are a cornerstone of paleoclimatology. For a number of marine sediment-based proxies, the accuracy and precision of past temperature reconstructions depends on a spatial calibration of modern surface sediment measurements to overlying water temperatures. Here, we present a database of 1095 surface sediment measurements of TEX86, a temperature proxy based on the relative cyclization of marine archaeal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) lipids. The dataset is archived in a machine-readable format with geospatial information, fractional abundances of lipids (if available), and metadata. We use this new database to update surface and subsurface temperature calibration models for TEX86 and demonstrate the applicability of the TEX86 proxy to past temperature prediction. The TEX86 database confirms that surface sediment GDGT distribution has a strong relationship to temperature, which accounts for over 70% of the variance in the data. Future efforts, made possible by the data presented here, will seek to identify variables with secondary relationships to GDGT distributions, such as archaeal community composition.
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Temperature and pH control on lipid composition of silica sinters from diverse hot springs in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. Extremophiles 2014; 19:327-44. [PMID: 25515367 PMCID: PMC4339782 DOI: 10.1007/s00792-014-0719-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 12/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Microbial adaptations to environmental extremes, including high temperature and low pH conditions typical of geothermal settings, are of interest in astrobiology and origin of life investigations. The lipid biomarkers preserved in silica deposits associated with six geothermal areas in the Taupo Volcanic Zone were investigated and variations in lipid composition as a function of temperature and pH were assessed. Lipid analyses reveal highly variable abundances and distributions, reflecting community composition as well as adaptations to extremes of pH and temperature. Biomarker profiles reveal three distinct microbial assemblages across the sites: the first in Champagne Pool and Loop Road, the second in Orakei Korako, Opaheke and Ngatamariki, and the third in Rotokawa. Similar lipid distributions are observed in sinters from physicochemically similar springs. Furthermore, correlation between lipid distributions and geothermal conditions is observed. The ratio of archaeol to bacterial diether abundance, bacterial diether average chain length, degree of GDGT cyclisation and C31 and C32 hopanoic acid indices typically increase with temperature. At lower pH, the ratio of archaeol to bacterial diethers, degree of GDGT cyclisation and C31 and C32 hopanoic acid indices are typically higher. No trends in fatty acid distributions with temperature or pH are evident, likely reflecting overprinting due to population influences.
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Ultra-high-resolution paleoenvironmental records via direct laser-based analysis of lipid biomarkers in sediment core samples. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:15669-74. [PMID: 25331871 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1405237111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Marine microorganisms adapt to their habitat by structural modification of their membrane lipids. This concept is the basis of numerous molecular proxies used for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Archaeal tetraether lipids from ubiquitous marine planktonic archaea are particularly abundant, well preserved in the sedimentary record and used in several molecular proxies. We here introduce the direct, extraction-free analysis of these compounds in intact sediment core sections using laser desorption ionization (LDI) coupled to Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS). LDI FTICR-MS can detect the target lipids in single submillimeter-sized spots on sediment sections, equivalent to a sample mass in the nanogram range, and could thus pave the way for biomarker-based reconstruction of past environments and ecosystems at subannual to decadal resolution. We demonstrate that ratios of selected archaeal tetraethers acquired by LDI FTICR-MS are highly correlated with values obtained by conventional liquid chromatography/MS protocols. The ratio of the major archaeal lipids, caldarchaeol and crenarchaeol, analyzed in a 6.2-cm intact section of Mediterranean sapropel S1 at 250-µm resolution (∼ 4-y temporal resolution), provides an unprecedented view of the fine-scale patchiness of sedimentary biomarker distributions and the processes involved in proxy signal formation. Temporal variations of this lipid ratio indicate a strong influence of the ∼ 200-y de Vries solar cycle on reconstructed sea surface temperatures with possible amplitudes of several degrees, and suggest signal amplification by a complex interplay of ecological and environmental factors. Laser-based biomarker analysis of geological samples has the potential to revolutionize molecular stratigraphic studies of paleoenvironments.
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Gambacorta A, Gliozzi A, De Rosa M. Archaeal lipids and their biotechnological applications. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 2014; 11:115-31. [PMID: 24414415 DOI: 10.1007/bf00339140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The lipids of Archaea, based on glycerol isopranoid ethers, can be used taxonomically to distinguish between phenotypic subgroups of the domain to delineate them clearly from all other organisms. This review is a general survey of the structural features of archaeal lipids and how they relate to survival in the harsh environments in which the Archaea live. The molecular organization of archaeal lipids in monolayers, artificial black membranes and vesicles and the unique properties and possible biotechnological applications of liposomes of the lipids are presented. The results with these liposomes are compared with similar data obtained with synthetic compounds which mimic the structure of archaeal lipids. Studies on computer simulation are also reported.
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32
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Schubotz F, Meyer-Dombard DR, Bradley AS, Fredricks HF, Hinrichs KU, Shock EL, Summons RE. Spatial and temporal variability of biomarkers and microbial diversity reveal metabolic and community flexibility in Streamer Biofilm Communities in the Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park. GEOBIOLOGY 2013; 11:549-569. [PMID: 23981055 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2012] [Accepted: 07/19/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Detailed analysis of 16S rRNA and intact polar lipids (IPLs) from streamer biofilm communities (SBCs), collected from geochemically similar hot springs in the Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, shows good agreement and affirm that IPLs can be used as reliable markers for the microbial constituents of SBCs. Uncultured Crenarchaea are prominent in SBS, and their IPLs contain both glycosidic and mixed glyco-phospho head groups with tetraether cores, having 0-4 rings. Archaeal IPL contributions increase with increasing temperature and comprise up to one-fourth of the total IPL inventory at >84 °C. At elevated temperatures, bacterial IPLs contain abundant glycosidic glycerol diether lipids. Diether and diacylglycerol (DAG) lipids with aminopentanetetrol and phosphatidylinositol head groups were identified as lipids diagnostic of Aquificales, while DAG glycolipids and glyco-phospholipids containing N-acetylgycosamine as head group were assigned to members of the Thermales. With decreasing temperature and concomitant changes in water chemistry, IPLs typical of phototrophic bacteria, such as mono-, diglycosyl, and sulfoquinovosyl DAG, which are specific for cyanobacteria, increase in abundance, consistent with genomic data from the same samples. Compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis of IPL breakdown products reveals a large isotopic diversity among SBCs in different hot springs. At two of the hot springs, 'Bison Pool' and Flat Cone, lipids derived from Aquificales are enriched in (13) C relative to biomass and approach values close to dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) (approximately 0‰), consistent with fractionation during autotrophic carbon fixation via the reversed tricarboxylic acid pathway. At a third site, Octopus Spring, the same Aquificales-diagnostic lipids are 10‰ depleted relative to biomass and resemble stable carbon isotope values of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), indicative of heterotrophy. Other bacterial and archaeal lipids show a similar variance, with values resembling the DIC or DOC pool or a mixture thereof. This variance cannot be explained by hot spring chemistry or temperature alone, but instead, we argue that intermittent input of exogenous organic carbon can result in metabolic shifts of the chemotrophic communities from autotrophy to heterotrophy and vice versa.
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MESH Headings
- Archaea/classification
- Archaea/genetics
- Bacteria/classification
- Bacteria/genetics
- Biofilms
- Biota
- Cluster Analysis
- DNA, Archaeal/chemistry
- DNA, Archaeal/genetics
- DNA, Bacterial/chemistry
- DNA, Bacterial/genetics
- DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry
- DNA, Ribosomal/genetics
- Genes, rRNA
- Hot Springs/microbiology
- Lipids/analysis
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Phylogeny
- RNA, Archaeal/genetics
- RNA, Bacterial/genetics
- RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics
- Sequence Analysis, DNA
- Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
- Temperature
- United States
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Affiliation(s)
- F Schubotz
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Méhay S, Früh-Green GL, Lang SQ, Bernasconi SM, Brazelton WJ, Schrenk MO, Schaeffer P, Adam P. Record of archaeal activity at the serpentinite-hosted Lost City Hydrothermal Field. GEOBIOLOGY 2013; 11:570-92. [PMID: 24118888 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2012] [Accepted: 09/06/2013] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Samples of young, outer surfaces of brucite-carbonate deposits from the ultramafic-hosted Lost City hydrothermal field were analyzed for DNA and lipid biomarker distributions and for carbon and hydrogen stable isotope compositions of the lipids. Methane-cycling archaeal communities, notably the Lost City Methanosarcinales (LCMS) phylotype, are specifically addressed. Lost City is unlike all other hydrothermal systems known to date and is characterized by metal- and CO2 -poor, high pH fluids with high H2 and CH4 contents resulting from serpentinization processes at depth. The archaeal fraction of the microbial community varies widely within the Lost City chimneys, from 1-81% and covaries with concentrations of hydrogen within the fluids. Archaeal lipids include isoprenoid glycerol di- and tetraethers and C25 and C30 isoprenoid hydrocarbons (pentamethylicosane derivatives - PMIs - and squalenoids). In particular, unsaturated PMIs and squalenoids, attributed to the LCMS archaea, were identified for the first time in the carbonate deposits at Lost City and probably record processes exclusively occurring at the surface of the chimneys. The carbon isotope compositions of PMIs and squalenoids are remarkably heterogeneous across samples and show highly (13) C-enriched signatures reaching δ(13) C values of up to +24.6‰. Unlike other environments in which similar structural and isotopic lipid heterogeneity has been observed and attributed to diversity in the archaeal assemblage, the lipids here appear to be synthesized solely by the LCMS. Some of the variations in lipid isotope signatures may, in part, be due to unusual isotopic fractionation during biosynthesis under extreme conditions. However, we argue that the diversity in archaeal abundances, lipid structure and carbon isotope composition rather reflects the ability of the LCMS archaeal biofilms to adapt to chemical gradients in the hydrothermal chimneys and possibly to perform either methanotrophy or methanogenesis using dissolved inorganic carbon, methane or formate as a function of the prevailing environmental conditions.
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MESH Headings
- Archaea/classification
- Archaea/genetics
- Archaea/metabolism
- Bacteria/classification
- Bacteria/genetics
- Bacteria/metabolism
- Biota
- Carbon/analysis
- DNA, Archaeal/chemistry
- DNA, Archaeal/genetics
- DNA, Bacterial/chemistry
- DNA, Bacterial/genetics
- DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry
- DNA, Ribosomal/genetics
- Genes, rRNA
- Hot Springs/microbiology
- Hydrogen/analysis
- Lipids/analysis
- RNA, Archaeal/genetics
- RNA, Bacterial/genetics
- RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics
- Sequence Analysis, DNA
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Affiliation(s)
- S Méhay
- Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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34
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Oger PM, Cario A. Adaptation of the membrane in Archaea. Biophys Chem 2013; 183:42-56. [PMID: 23915818 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2013.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2013] [Revised: 06/25/2013] [Accepted: 06/25/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Microbes often face contrasted and fluctuating environmental conditions, to which they need to adapt or die. Because membranes play a central role in regulating fluxes inward and outward from the cells, maintaining the appropriate structure of the membrane is crucial to maintain cellular integrity and functions. This is achieved in bacteria and eucarya by a modification of the membrane lipid compositions, a strategy termed homeoviscous adaptation. We review here evidence for homeoviscous adaptation in Archaea, and discuss the limits of this strategy and our knowledge in this very peculiar domain of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe M Oger
- CNRS UMR 5276, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon cedex 07, France.
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35
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Kaur G, Mountain BW, Hopmans EC, Pancost RD. Preservation of microbial lipids in geothermal sinters. ASTROBIOLOGY 2011; 11:259-274. [PMID: 21476896 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2010.0540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Lipid biomarkers are widely used to study the earliest life on Earth and have been invoked as potential astrobiological markers, but few studies have assessed their survival and persistence in geothermal settings. Here, we investigate lipid preservation in active and inactive geothermal silica sinters, with ages of up to 900 years, from Champagne Pool, Waiotapu, New Zealand. Analyses revealed a wide range of bacterial biomarkers, including free and bound fatty acids, 1,2-di-O-alkylglycerols (diethers), and various hopanoids. Dominant archaeal lipids include archaeol and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs). The predominance of generally similar biomarker groups in all sinters suggests a stable microbial community throughout Champagne Pool's history and indicates that incorporated lipids can be well preserved. Moreover, subtle differences in lipid distributions suggest that past changes in environmental conditions can be elucidated. In this case, higher archaeol abundances relative to the bacterial diethers, a greater proportion of cyclic GDGTs, the high average chain length of the bacterial diethers, and greater concentrations of hopanoic acids in the older sinters all suggest hotter conditions at Champagne Pool in the past.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gurpreet Kaur
- Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK.
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36
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Gmajner D, Ota A, Šentjurc M, Ulrih NP. Stability of diether C25,25 liposomes from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Aeropyrum pernix K1. Chem Phys Lipids 2011; 164:236-45. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2011.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2010] [Revised: 01/26/2011] [Accepted: 01/26/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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37
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Boyd ES, Pearson A, Pi Y, Li WJ, Zhang YG, He L, Zhang CL, Geesey GG. Temperature and pH controls on glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether lipid composition in the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Acidilobus sulfurireducens. Extremophiles 2010; 15:59-65. [PMID: 21125411 DOI: 10.1007/s00792-010-0339-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2010] [Accepted: 11/12/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Cyclization in glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) results in internal cyclopentane moieties which are believed to confer thermal stability to crenarchaeal membranes. While the average number of rings per GDGT lipid (ring index) is positively correlated with temperature in many temperate environments, poor correlations are often observed in geothermal environments, suggesting that additional parameters may influence GDGT core lipid composition in these systems. However, the physical and chemical parameters likely to influence GDGT cyclization which are often difficult to decouple in geothermal systems, making it challenging to assess their influence on lipid composition. In the present study, the influence of temperature (range 65-81°C), pH (range 3.0-5.0), and ionic strength (range 10.1-55.7 mM) on GDGT core lipid composition was examined in the hyperthermoacidophile Acidilobus sulfurireducens, a crenarchaeon originally isolated from a geothermal spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. When cultivated under defined laboratory conditions, the composition of individual and total GDGTs varied significantly with temperature and to a lesser extent with the pH of the growth medium. Ionic strength over the range of values tested did not influence GDGT composition. The GDGT core lipid ring index was positively correlated with temperature and negatively correlated with pH, suggesting that A. sulfurireducens responds to increasing temperature and acidity by increasing the number of cyclopentyl rings in GDGT core membrane lipids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric S Boyd
- Department of Microbiology, Montana State University, 109 Lewis Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
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38
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Chong PLG. Archaebacterial bipolar tetraether lipids: Physico-chemical and membrane properties. Chem Phys Lipids 2010; 163:253-65. [PMID: 20060818 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2009.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2009] [Revised: 12/18/2009] [Accepted: 12/30/2009] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Bipolar tetraether lipids (BTL) are abundant in archaea and can be chemically synthesized. The structures of BTL are distinctly different from the lipids found in bacteria and eukaryotes. In aqueous solution, BTL can form extraordinarily stable liposomes with different sizes, lamellarities and membrane packing densities. BTL liposomes can serve as membrane models for understanding the structure-function relationship of the plasma membrane in thermoacidophiles and can be used for technological applications. This article reviews the separation, characterization and structures of BTL as well as the physical properties and technological applications of BTL liposomes. One of the structural features of BTL is the presence of cyclopentane rings in the lipid hydrocarbon core. Archaea use the cyclopentane ring as an adaptation strategy to cope with high growth temperature. Special attention of this article is focused on how the number of cyclopentane rings varies with environmental factors and affects membrane properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parkson Lee-Gau Chong
- Department of Biochemistry, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19140, United States.
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39
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Factors controlling the distribution of archaeal tetraethers in terrestrial hot springs. Appl Environ Microbiol 2008; 74:3523-32. [PMID: 18390673 DOI: 10.1128/aem.02450-07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) found in hot springs reflect the abundance and community structure of Archaea in these extreme environments. The relationships between GDGTs, archaeal communities, and physical or geochemical variables are underexamined to date and when reported often result in conflicting interpretations. Here, we examined profiles of GDGTs from pure cultures of Crenarchaeota and from terrestrial geothermal springs representing a wide distribution of locations, including Yellowstone National Park (United States), the Great Basin of Nevada and California (United States), Kamchatka (Russia), Tengchong thermal field (China), and Thailand. These samples had temperatures of 36.5 to 87 degrees C and pH values of 3.0 to 9.2. GDGT abundances also were determined for three soil samples adjacent to some of the hot springs. Principal component analysis identified four factors that accounted for most of the variance among nine individual GDGTs, temperature, and pH. Significant correlations were observed between pH and the GDGTs crenarchaeol and GDGT-4 (four cyclopentane rings, m/z 1,294); pH correlated positively with crenarchaeol and inversely with GDGT-4. Weaker correlations were observed between temperature and the four factors. Three of the four GDGTs used in the marine TEX(86) paleotemperature index (GDGT-1 to -3, but not crenarchaeol isomer) were associated with a single factor. No correlation was observed for GDGT-0 (acyclic caldarchaeol): it is effectively its own variable. The biosynthetic mechanisms and exact archaeal community structures leading to these relationships remain unknown. However, the data in general show promise for the continued development of GDGT lipid-based physiochemical proxies for archaeal evolution and for paleo-ecology or paleoclimate studies.
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40
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Schouten S, van der Meer MTJ, Hopmans EC, Rijpstra WIC, Reysenbach AL, Ward DM, Sinninghe Damsté JS. Archaeal and bacterial glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether lipids in hot springs of yellowstone national park. Appl Environ Microbiol 2007; 73:6181-91. [PMID: 17693566 PMCID: PMC2074994 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00630-07] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are core membrane lipids originally thought to be produced mainly by (hyper)thermophilic archaea. Environmental screening of low-temperature environments showed, however, the abundant presence of structurally diverse GDGTs from both bacterial and archaeal sources. In this study, we examined the occurrences and distribution of GDGTs in hot spring environments in Yellowstone National Park with high temperatures (47 to 83 degrees C) and mostly neutral to alkaline pHs. GDGTs with 0 to 4 cyclopentane moieties were dominant in all samples and are likely derived from both (hyper)thermophilic Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. GDGTs with 4 to 8 cyclopentane moieties, likely derived from the crenarchaeotal order Sulfolobales and the euryarchaeotal order Thermoplasmatales, are usually present in much lower abundance, consistent with the relatively high pH values of the hot springs. The relative abundances of cyclopentane-containing GDGTs did not correlate with in situ temperature and pH, suggesting that other environmental and possibly genetic factors play a role as well. Crenarchaeol, a biomarker thought to be specific for nonthermophilic group I Crenarchaeota, was also found in most hot springs, though in relatively low concentrations, i.e., <5% of total GDGTs. Its abundance did not correlate with temperature, as has been reported previously. Instead, the cooccurrence of relatively abundant nonisoprenoid GDGTs thought to be derived from soil bacteria suggests a predominantly allochthonous source for crenarchaeol in these hot spring environments. Finally, the distribution of bacterial branched GDGTs suggests that they may be derived from the geothermally heated soils surrounding the hot springs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Schouten
- Department of Marine Biogeochemistry & Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands.
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Lutnaes BF, Krane J, Smith BE, Rowland SJ. Structure elucidation of C80, C81 and C82 isoprenoid tetraacids responsible for naphthenate deposition in crude oil production. Org Biomol Chem 2007; 5:1873-7. [PMID: 17551635 DOI: 10.1039/b701462g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A series of C(80) isoprenoid 20-bis-16,16'-biphytanyl tetraacids has previously been found to be responsible for calcium naphthenate scaling in crude oil processing. This paper describes the structure elucidation by high-field NMR spectroscopy of the structures of the series of homologous C(80) tetraacids containing 4-8 five-membered rings. In addition, the structures of methyl-substituted C(81) and C(82) analogues containing 7 and 8 five-membered rings have been determined for the first time. The biosynthetic implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bjart F Lutnaes
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
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42
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Dante S, Rosa MD, Maccioni E, Morana A, Nicolini C, Rustichelli F, Troitsky VI, Yang B. Thermal, Stability of Bipolar Lipid Langmuir Blodgett Films by X-Ray Diffraction. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2006. [DOI: 10.1080/10587259508033525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- S. Dante
- a Istituto di Scienze Fisiche , University of Ancona , (Italy)
| | - M. De Rosa
- b Istituto di Biochimica delle Macromolecole , II University of Naples , (Italy)
| | - E. Maccioni
- a Istituto di Scienze Fisiche , University of Ancona , (Italy)
- c Istituto di Biofisica , University of Genoa , (Italy)
| | - A. Morana
- b Istituto di Biochimica delle Macromolecole , II University of Naples , (Italy)
| | - C. Nicolini
- c Istituto di Biofisica , University of Genoa , (Italy)
| | - F Rustichelli
- a Istituto di Scienze Fisiche , University of Ancona , (Italy)
| | - V. I. Troitsky
- d Technobiochip, Marciana , Livorno , (Italy)
- e Zelenograd Researh Institute of Physical Problems , Moscow , (Russia)
| | - B. Yang
- a Istituto di Scienze Fisiche , University of Ancona , (Italy)
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43
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Zhang CL, Pearson A, Li YL, Mills G, Wiegel J. Thermophilic temperature optimum for crenarchaeol synthesis and its implication for archaeal evolution. Appl Environ Microbiol 2006; 72:4419-22. [PMID: 16751559 PMCID: PMC1489640 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00191-06] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The isoprenoid lipid crenarchaeol is widespread in hot springs of California and Nevada. Terrestrial and marine data together suggest a maximum relative abundance of crenarchaeol at approximately 40 degrees C. This warm temperature optimum may have facilitated colonization of the ocean by (hyper)thermophilic Archaea and the major marine radiation of Crenarchaeota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanlun L Zhang
- Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC 29802, USA.
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44
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Ingalls AE, Shah SR, Hansman RL, Aluwihare LI, Santos GM, Druffel ERM, Pearson A. Quantifying archaeal community autotrophy in the mesopelagic ocean using natural radiocarbon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2006; 103:6442-7. [PMID: 16614070 PMCID: PMC1564200 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0510157103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 366] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
An ammonia-oxidizing, carbon-fixing archaeon, Candidatus "Nitrosopumilus maritimus," recently was isolated from a salt-water aquarium, definitively confirming that chemoautotrophy exists among the marine archaea. However, in other incubation studies, pelagic archaea also were capable of using organic carbon. It has remained unknown what fraction of the total marine archaeal community is autotrophic in situ. If archaea live primarily as autotrophs in the natural environment, a large ammonia-oxidizing population would play a significant role in marine nitrification. Here we use the natural distribution of radiocarbon in archaeal membrane lipids to quantify the bulk carbon metabolism of archaea at two depths in the subtropical North Pacific gyre. Our compound-specific radiocarbon data show that the archaea in surface waters incorporate modern carbon into their membrane lipids, and archaea at 670 m incorporate carbon that is slightly more isotopically enriched than inorganic carbon at the same depth. An isotopic mass balance model shows that the dominant metabolism at depth indeed is autotrophy (83%), whereas heterotrophic consumption of modern organic carbon accounts for the remainder of archaeal biomass. These results reflect the in situ production of the total community that produces tetraether lipids and are not subject to biases associated with incubation and/or culture experiments. The data suggest either that the marine archaeal community includes both autotrophs and heterotrophs or is a single population with a uniformly mixotrophic metabolism. The metabolic and phylogenetic diversity of the marine archaea warrants further exploration; these organisms may play a major role in the marine cycles of nitrogen and carbon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anitra E. Ingalls
- *Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Sunita R. Shah
- *Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Roberta L. Hansman
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and
| | - Lihini I. Aluwihare
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and
| | - Guaciara M. Santos
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697
| | - Ellen R. M. Druffel
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697
| | - Ann Pearson
- *Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
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Lutnaes BF, Brandal Ø, Sjöblom J, Krane J. Archaeal C80 isoprenoid tetraacids responsible for naphthenate deposition in crude oil processing. Org Biomol Chem 2006; 4:616-20. [PMID: 16467934 DOI: 10.1039/b516907k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The structure of a novel class of octaterpene tetracarboxylic acids which is responsible for naphthenate deposition in crude oil processing has been determined by NMR and mass spectroscopy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bjart Frode Lutnaes
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway.
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46
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Pancost RD, Pressley S, Coleman JM, Benning LG, Mountain BW. Lipid biomolecules in silica sinters: indicators of microbial biodiversity. Environ Microbiol 2005; 7:66-77. [PMID: 15643937 DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2004.00686.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
To explore further the diversity of the microorganisms and their relationship with geothermal sinters, we examined the lipids preserved in six sinters associated with four different hot spring (58-82 degrees C) areas of the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand. These sinters contain microbial remains, but the process of mineralization has rendered them largely unidentifiable. Dominant lipids include free fatty acids, 1,2-diacylglycerophospholipids, 1,2-di-O-alkylglycerols, glycerol dialkylglycerol tetraethers and 1-O-alkylglycerols. These confirm the presence and, in some cases, high abundances of bacteria in all six sinters and archaea in four of the six sinter samples; in addition, the presence of novel macrocyclic diethers and unusual distributions of monoethers and diethers suggest the presence of previously uncharacterized bacteria. The lipid distributions are also markedly dissimilar among the four sites; for example, novel macrocyclic diethers are restricted to the Rotokawa samples while particularly abundant monoethers occur only in the Orakei Korako sample. Thus, biomarkers can provide crucial insight into the complex community structure of thermophilic microorganisms, including both archaea and bacteria, involved with biogenic silica sinter formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard D Pancost
- Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK.
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Pearson A, Huang Z, Ingalls AE, Romanek CS, Wiegel J, Freeman KH, Smittenberg RH, Zhang CL. Nonmarine crenarchaeol in Nevada hot springs. Appl Environ Microbiol 2004; 70:5229-37. [PMID: 15345404 PMCID: PMC520871 DOI: 10.1128/aem.70.9.5229-5237.2004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are core membrane lipids of the Crenarchaeota. The structurally unusual GDGT crenarchaeol has been proposed as a taxonomically specific biomarker for the marine planktonic group I archaea. It is found ubiquitously in the marine water column and in sediments. In this work, samples of microbial community biomass were obtained from several alkaline and neutral-pH hot springs in Nevada, United States. Lipid extracts of these samples were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Each sample contained GDGTs, and among these compounds was crenarchaeol. The distribution of archaeal lipids in Nevada hot springs did not appear to correlate with temperature, as has been observed in the marine environment. Instead, a significant correlation with the concentration of bicarbonate was observed. Archaeal DNA was analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. All samples contained 16S rRNA gene sequences which were more strongly related to thermophilic crenarchaeota than to Cenarchaeum symbiosum, a marine nonthermophilic crenarchaeon. The occurrence of crenarchaeol in environments containing sequences affiliated with thermophilic crenarchaeota suggests a wide phenotypic distribution of this compound. The results also indicate that crenarchaeol can no longer be considered an exclusive biomarker for marine species.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Pearson
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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Yamauchi N, Ueoka H, Kamada N, Murae T. Resemblance of Carbocycle Formation from Carbohydrates between Archaea and Eucarya/Eubacteria. Biosynthesis of Calditol, the Characteristic Lipid-Content Molecule inSulfolobus acidocaldarius. BULLETIN OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN 2004. [DOI: 10.1246/bcsj.77.771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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49
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Daniel RM, van Eckert R, Holden JF, Truter J, Crowan DA. The stability of biomolecules and the implications for life at high temperatures. THE SUBSEAFLOOR BIOSPHERE AT MID-OCEAN RIDGES 2004. [DOI: 10.1029/144gm03] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
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50
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Schouten S, Wakeham SG, Hopmans EC, Sinninghe Damsté JS. Biogeochemical evidence that thermophilic archaea mediate the anaerobic oxidation of methane. Appl Environ Microbiol 2003; 69:1680-6. [PMID: 12620859 PMCID: PMC150050 DOI: 10.1128/aem.69.3.1680-1686.2003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Distributions and isotopic analyses of lipids from sediment cores at a hydrothermally active site in the Guaymas Basin with a steep sedimentary temperature gradient revealed the presence of archaea that oxidize methane anaerobically. The presence of strongly (13)C-depleted lipids at greater depths in the sediments suggests that microbes involved in anaerobic oxidation of methane are present and presumably active at environmental temperatures of >30 degrees C, indicating that this process can occur not only at cold seeps but also at hydrothermal sites. The distribution of the membrane tetraether lipids of the methanotrophic archaea shows that these organisms have adapted their membrane composition to these high environmental temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Schouten
- Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands.
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