Characterization of a Plasmid Carried by Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum ZH3, a Methanogen Closely Related to Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum Marburg

Archaeal extrachromosomal genetic elements

SUMMARY

Research on archaeal extrachromosomal genetic elements (ECEs) has progressed rapidly in the past decade. To date, over 60 archaeal viruses and 60 plasmids have been isolated. These archaeal viruses exhibit an exceptional diversity in morphology, with a wide array of shapes, such as spindles, rods, filaments, spheres, head-tails, bottles, and droplets, and some of these new viruses have been classified into one order, 10 families, and 16 genera. Investigation of model archaeal viruses has yielded important insights into mechanisms underlining various steps in the viral life cycle, including infection, DNA replication and transcription, and virion egression. Many of these mechanisms are unprecedented for any known bacterial or eukaryal viruses. Studies of plasmids isolated from different archaeal hosts have also revealed a striking diversity in gene content and innovation in replication strategies. Highly divergent replication proteins are identified in both viral and plasmid genomes. Genomic studies of archaeal ECEs have revealed a modular sequence structure in which modules of DNA sequence are exchangeable within, as well as among, plasmid families and probably also between viruses and plasmids. In particular, it has been suggested that ECE-host interactions have shaped the coevolution of ECEs and their archaeal hosts. Furthermore, archaeal hosts have developed defense systems, including the innate restriction-modification (R-M) system and the adaptive CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) system, to restrict invasive plasmids and viruses. Together, these interactions permit a delicate balance between ECEs and their hosts, which is vitally important for maintaining an innovative gene reservoir carried by ECEs. In conclusion, while research on archaeal ECEs has just started to unravel the molecular biology of these genetic entities and their interactions with archaeal hosts, it is expected to accelerate in the next decade.

A comprehensive study into the molecular methodology and molecular biology of methanogenic Archaea

Methanogens belong to the kingdom of Euryarchaeota in the domain of Archaea. The Archaea differ from Bacteria in many aspects important to molecular work. Among these are cell wall composition, their sensitivity to antibiotics, their translation and transcription machinery, and their very strict demands to anaerobic culture conditions. These differences may, at least partly, be responsible for the delay in availability of genetic research tools for methanogens. At present, however, the research within genetics of methanogens and their gene regulation and expression is in rapid progress. Two complete methanogenic genomes have been sequenced and published and more are underway. Besides, sequences are known from a multitude of individual genes from methanogens. Standard methods for simple DNA and RNA work can normally be employed, but permeabilization of the cell wall may demand special procedures. Efficient genetic manipulation systems, including shuttle and integration vector systems, have appeared for mesophilic, but not for thermophilic species within the last few years and will have a major impact on future investigations of methanogenic molecular biology.

Comparative sequence analysis of plasmids pME2001 and pME2200 of methanothermobacter marburgensis strains Marburg and ZH3

Comparison of the updated complete nucleotide sequences of the two related plasmids pME2001 and pME2200 from the thermophilic archaeon Methanothermobacter marburgensis (formerly Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum) strains Marburg and ZH3, respectively, revealed an almost identical common backbone structure and five plasmid-specific inserted fragments (IFs), four of which are flanked by perfect or nearly perfect direct repeats 25-52 bp in length. A 4354-bp minimal replicon was derived from the alignment of the two plasmids, which encodes one putative antisense RNA related to replication control and five open reading frames (ORFs) organized in two operons. The first operon consists of four ORFs, the third of which, i.e. ORF3, contains a helix-turn-helix motif and a purine NTP-binding motif often found in proteins involved in DNA metabolic processes. The database search results suggest that ORF3 might function as a replication initiator protein. The large putative Rep protein encoded by pME2001 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli as an N-terminal His-tagged version using pET28a and a compatible helper plasmid that coexpresses minor tRNAs, argU and ileX to compensate for codon usage difference. ORFs 1, 2, and 3 are organized in a sequence reminiscent of that described in E. coli plasmids of the R1 family, cop-tap-rep. ORF6 encoded by IF1, one of the pME2200-specific elements, showed significant similarity to ORF6 encoded by archaeal phage psiM2 of M. marburgensis strain Marburg and may confer the apparent immunity of its host strain ZH3 to infection by phage psiM2. Our data indicate that M. marburgensis plasmids may evolve by a series of gene duplication and excision events.

Molecular analysis of Methanobacterium phage psiM2

The methanogenic archaeon Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum Marburg is infected by the double-stranded DNA phage psiM2. The complete phage genome sequence of 26 111 bp was established. Thirty-one open reading frames (orfs), all of them organized in the same direction of transcription, were identified. On the basis of comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences to known proteins and by searching for conserved motifs, putative functions were assigned to the products of six orfs. These included three proteins involved in packaging DNA into the capsid, two putative phage structural proteins and a protein related to the Int family of site-specific recombinases. Analysis of the N-terminal amino acid sequences of three phage-encoded proteins led to the identification of two genes encoding structural proteins and of peiP, the structural gene of pseudomurein endoisopeptidase. This enzyme is involved in the lysis of host cells, and it appears to belong to a novel enzyme family. peiP was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and its product was shown to catalyse the in vitro lysis of M. thermoautotrophicum cells. Comparison of the phage psiM2 DNA sequence with parts of the sequence of the wild-type phage psiM1 suggests that psiM2 is a deletion derivative, which formed by homologous recombination between two copies of a direct repeat.

Characterization of pURB500 from the archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis and construction of a shuttle vector

The complete sequence of the 8,285-bp plasmid pURB500 from Methanococcus maripaludis C5 was determined. Sequence analysis identified 18 open reading frames as well as two regions of potential iterons and complex secondary structures. The shuttle vector, pDLT44, for M. maripaludis JJ was constructed from the entire pURB500 plasmid and pMEB.2, an Escherichia coli vector containing a methanococcal puromycin-resistance marker (P. Gernhardt, O. Possot, M. Foglino, L. Sibold, and A. Klein, Mol. Gen. Genet. 221:273-279, 1990). By using polyethylene glycol transformation, M. maripaludis JJ was transformed at a frequency of 3.3 x 10(7) transformants per microg of pDLT44. The shuttle vector was stable in E. coli under ampicillin selection but was maintained at a lower copy number than pMEB.2. Based on the inability of various restriction fragments of pURB500 to support maintenance in M. maripaludis JJ, multiple regions of pURB500 were required. pDLT44 did not replicate in Methanococcus voltae.