1
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Pyomelanin production via heterologous expression of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) and construction of HPPD inhibitor screening model. J Biosci Bioeng 2023; 135:93-101. [PMID: 36470730 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2022.10.005] [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: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Melanin has an increasing market demand in cosmetics, food, medicine as well as aerospace due to its unique properties. Heterologous expression of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) from the melanin-producing strain Streptomyces fungicidicus NW-EN1 in Escherichia coli shortened the fermentation cycle of melanin. HPPD catalyzed 4-hydrophenylpyruvate (HPP) to form homologous acid (HGA) and finally form melanin. The purified melanin had the highest absorption peak at 460 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope scanning showed that the pigment had universal characteristic peaks. The presence of HGA, a predictor of pyomelanin, was identified by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. The recombinant E. coli produced 804.4 ± 5.9 mg/L pyomelanin within 48 h. Metal ions had a great influence on the production of pyomelanin. Pyomelanin was stable in response to light intensity and had a protective effect against bacteria under UV irradiation. Meanwhile, we utilized the chromogenic effect after whole-cell catalysis to reflect the inhibition of the HPPD inhibitors (mesotrione and isoxaflutole) on HPPD by observing the color change. As a rapid method to test the action of inhibitors, this method is expected to be useful for the development of HPPD-inhibiting herbicides.
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2
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Koch M, Noonan AJC, Qiu Y, Dofher K, Kieft B, Mottahedeh S, Shastri M, Hallam SJ. The survivor strain: isolation and characterization of Phormidium yuhuli AB48, a filamentous phototactic cyanobacterium with biotechnological potential. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:932695. [PMID: 36046667 PMCID: PMC9420970 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.932695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite their recognized potential, current applications of cyanobacteria as microbial cell factories remain in early stages of development. This is partly due to the fact that engineered strains are often difficult to grow at scale. This technical challenge contrasts with the dense and highly productive cyanobacteria populations thriving in many natural environments. It has been proposed that the selection of strains pre-adapted for growth in industrial photobioreactors could enable more productive cultivation outcomes. Here, we described the initial morphological, physiological, and genomic characterization of Phormidium yuhuli AB48 isolated from an industrial photobioreactor environment. P. yuhuli AB48 is a filamentous phototactic cyanobacterium with a growth rate comparable to Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The isolate forms dense biofilms under high salinity and alkaline conditions and manifests a similar nutrient profile to Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina). We sequenced, assembled, and analyzed the P. yuhuli AB48 genome, the first closed circular isolate reference genome for a member of the Phormidium genus. We then used cultivation experiments in combination with proteomics and metabolomics to investigate growth characteristics and phenotypes related to industrial scale cultivation, including nitrogen and carbon utilization, salinity, and pH acclimation, as well as antibiotic resistance. These analyses provide insight into the biological mechanisms behind the desirable growth properties manifested by P. yuhuli AB48 and position it as a promising microbial cell factory for industrial-scale bioproduction[221, 1631].
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Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Koch
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Avery J. C. Noonan
- Genome Science and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- ECOSCOPE Training Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Yilin Qiu
- Genome Science and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Kalen Dofher
- Genome Science and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Brandon Kieft
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | | | - Steven J. Hallam
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Genome Science and Technology Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- ECOSCOPE Training Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Graduate Program in Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- *Correspondence: Steven J. Hallam,
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3
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Adler A, Poirier S, Pagni M, Maillard J, Holliger C. Disentangle genus microdiversity within a complex microbial community by using a multi-distance long-read binning method: example of Candidatus Accumulibacter. Environ Microbiol 2022; 24:2136-2156. [PMID: 35315560 PMCID: PMC9311429 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Complete genomes can be recovered from metagenomes by assembling and binning DNA sequences into metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs). Yet, the presence of microdiversity can hamper the assembly and binning processes, possibly yielding chimeric, highly fragmented and incomplete genomes. Here, the metagenomes of four samples of aerobic granular sludge bioreactors containing Candidatus (Ca.) Accumulibacter, a phosphate-accumulating organism of interest for wastewater treatment, were sequenced with both PacBio and Illumina. Different strategies of genome assembly and binning were investigated, including published protocols and a binning procedure adapted to the binning of long contigs (MuLoBiSC). Multiple criteria were considered to select the best strategy for Ca. Accumulibacter, whose multiple strains in every sample represent a challenging microdiversity. In this case, the best strategy relies on long-read only assembly and a custom binning procedure including MuLoBiSC in metaWRAP. Several high-quality Ca. Accumulibacter MAGs, including a novel species, were obtained independently from different samples. Comparative genomic analysis showed that MAGs retrieved in different samples harbour genomic rearrangements in addition to accumulation of point mutations. The microdiversity of Ca. Accumulibacter, likely driven by mobile genetic elements, causes major difficulties in recovering MAGs, but it is also a hallmark of the panmictic lifestyle of these bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Adler
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Simon Poirier
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Marco Pagni
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,Vital-IT Group, SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Julien Maillard
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.,IFP Energie nouvelles, 1 et 4 avenue de Bois-Préau, 92852, Rueil-Malmaison Cedex, France
| | - Christof Holliger
- Laboratory for Environmental Biotechnology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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4
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Pyankova AA, Plotnikova EG. Benzoate-Degrading Bacteria of the Family Halomonadaceae Isolated from a Salt Mining Area: Species Diversity and Analysis of the benA Genes. Microbiology (Reading) 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s0026261722010106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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5
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Ataeian M, Liu Y, Kouris A, Hawley AK, Strous M. Ecological Interactions of Cyanobacteria and Heterotrophs Enhances the Robustness of Cyanobacterial Consortium for Carbon Sequestration. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:780346. [PMID: 35222325 PMCID: PMC8880816 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.780346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Lack of robustness is a major barrier to foster a sustainable cyanobacterial biotechnology. Use of cyanobacterial consortium increases biodiversity, which provides functional redundancy and prevents invading species from disrupting the production ecosystem. Here we characterized a cyanobacterial consortium enriched from microbial mats of alkaline soda lakes in BC, Canada, at high pH and alkalinity. This consortium has been grown in open laboratory culture for 4 years without crashes. Using shotgun metagenomic sequencing, 29 heterotrophic metagenome-assembled-genomes (MAGs) were retrieved and were assigned to Bacteroidota, Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Verrucomicrobiota, Patescibacteria, Planctomycetota, and Archaea. In combination with metaproteomics, the overall stability of the consortium was determined under different cultivation conditions. Genome information from each heterotrophic population was investigated for six ecological niches created by cyanobacterial metabolism and one niche for phototrophy. Genome-resolved metaproteomics with stable isotope probing using 13C-bicarbonate (protein/SIP) showed tight coupling of carbon transfer from cyanobacteria to the heterotrophic populations, specially Wenzhouxiangella. The community structure was compared to a previously described consortium of a closely related cyanobacteria, which indicated that the results may be generalized. Productivity losses associated with heterotrophic metabolism were relatively small compared to other losses during photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Ataeian
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Yihua Liu
- Department Microbiome Science, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Angela Kouris
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Alyse K. Hawley
- School of Engineering, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada
| | - Marc Strous
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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6
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Ataeian M, Vadlamani A, Haines M, Mosier D, Dong X, Kleiner M, Strous M, Hawley AK. Proteome and strain analysis of cyanobacterium Candidatus "Phormidium alkaliphilum" reveals traits for success in biotechnology. iScience 2021; 24:103405. [PMID: 34877483 PMCID: PMC8633866 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cyanobacteria encompass a diverse group of photoautotrophic bacteria with important roles in nature and biotechnology. Here we characterized Candidatus “Phormidium alkaliphilum,” an abundant member in alkaline soda lake microbial communities globally. The complete, circular whole-genome sequence of Ca. “P. alkaliphilum” was obtained using combined Nanopore and Illumina sequencing of a Ca. “P. alkaliphilum” consortium. Strain-level diversity of Ca. “P. alkaliphilum” was shown to contribute to photobioreactor robustness under different operational conditions. Comparative genomics of closely related species showed that adaptation to high pH was not attributed to specific genes. Proteomics at high and low pH showed only minimal changes in gene expression, but higher productivity in high pH. Diverse photosystem antennae proteins, and high-affinity terminal oxidase, compared with other soda lake cyanobacteria, appear to contribute to the success of Ca. “P. alkaliphilum” in photobioreactors and biotechnology applications. Closed genome of the cyanobacteria Ca. P. alkaliphilum from high-pH photobioreactor Genetic factors lead this Phormidium to outcompete other cyanobacteria in photobioreactor Adaptation to high pH and alkalinity is not linked to specific genes Strain-level diversity contributes Ca. P. alkaliphilum success in changing conditions
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Ataeian
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | | | - Marianne Haines
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Damon Mosier
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Xiaoli Dong
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Manuel Kleiner
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
| | - Marc Strous
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Alyse K. Hawley
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
- School of Engineering, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada
- Corresponding author
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7
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Gardner JG, Schreier HJ. Unifying themes and distinct features of carbon and nitrogen assimilation by polysaccharide-degrading bacteria: a summary of four model systems. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2021; 105:8109-8127. [PMID: 34611726 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-021-11614-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Our current understanding of enzymatic polysaccharide degradation has come from a huge number of in vitro studies with purified enzymes. While this vast body of work has been invaluable in identifying and characterizing novel mechanisms of action and engineering desirable traits into these enzymes, a comprehensive picture of how these enzymes work as part of a native in vivo system is less clear. Recently, several model bacteria have emerged with genetic systems that allow for a more nuanced study of carbohydrate active enzymes (CAZymes) and how their activity affects bacterial carbon metabolism. With these bacterial model systems, it is now possible to not only study a single nutrient system in isolation (i.e., carbohydrate degradation and carbon metabolism), but also how multiple systems are integrated. Given that most environmental polysaccharides are carbon rich but nitrogen poor (e.g., lignocellulose), the interplay between carbon and nitrogen metabolism in polysaccharide-degrading bacteria can now be studied in a physiologically relevant manner. Therefore, in this review, we have summarized what has been experimentally determined for CAZyme regulation, production, and export in relation to nitrogen metabolism for two Gram-positive (Caldicellulosiruptor bescii and Clostridium thermocellum) and two Gram-negative (Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Cellvibrio japonicus) polysaccharide-degrading bacteria. By comparing and contrasting these four bacteria, we have highlighted the shared and unique features of each, with a focus on in vivo studies, in regard to carbon and nitrogen assimilation. We conclude with what we believe are two important questions that can act as guideposts for future work to better understand the integration of carbon and nitrogen metabolism in polysaccharide-degrading bacteria. KEY POINTS: • Regardless of CAZyme deployment system, the generation of a local pool of oligosaccharides is a common strategy among Gram-negative and Gram-positive polysaccharide degraders as a means to maximally recoup the energy expenditure of CAZyme production and export. • Due to the nitrogen deficiency of insoluble polysaccharide-containing substrates, Gram-negative and Gram-positive polysaccharide degraders have a diverse set of strategies for supplementation and assimilation. • Future work needs to precisely characterize the energetic expenditures of CAZyme deployment and bolster our understanding of how carbon and nitrogen metabolism are integrated in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive polysaccharide-degrading bacteria, as both of these will significantly influence a given bacterium's suitability for biotechnology applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey G Gardner
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Harold J Schreier
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
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8
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Zablocki O, Michelsen M, Burris M, Solonenko N, Warwick-Dugdale J, Ghosh R, Pett-Ridge J, Sullivan MB, Temperton B. VirION2: a short- and long-read sequencing and informatics workflow to study the genomic diversity of viruses in nature. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11088. [PMID: 33850654 PMCID: PMC8018248 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbes play fundamental roles in shaping natural ecosystem properties and functions, but do so under constraints imposed by their viral predators. However, studying viruses in nature can be challenging due to low biomass and the lack of universal gene markers. Though metagenomic short-read sequencing has greatly improved our virus ecology toolkit—and revealed many critical ecosystem roles for viruses—microdiverse populations and fine-scale genomic traits are missed. Some of these microdiverse populations are abundant and the missed regions may be of interest for identifying selection pressures that underpin evolutionary constraints associated with hosts and environments. Though long-read sequencing promises complete virus genomes on single reads, it currently suffers from high DNA requirements and sequencing errors that limit accurate gene prediction. Here we introduce VirION2, an integrated short- and long-read metagenomic wet-lab and informatics pipeline that updates our previous method (VirION) to further enhance the utility of long-read viral metagenomics. Using a viral mock community, we first optimized laboratory protocols (polymerase choice, DNA shearing size, PCR cycling) to enable 76% longer reads (now median length of 6,965 bp) from 100-fold less input DNA (now 1 nanogram). Using a virome from a natural seawater sample, we compared viromes generated with VirION2 against other library preparation options (unamplified, original VirION, and short-read), and optimized downstream informatics for improved long-read error correction and assembly. VirION2 assemblies combined with short-read based data (‘enhanced’ viromes), provided significant improvements over VirION libraries in the recovery of longer and more complete viral genomes, and our optimized error-correction strategy using long- and short-read data achieved 99.97% accuracy. In the seawater virome, VirION2 assemblies captured 5,161 viral populations (including all of the virus populations observed in the other assemblies), 30% of which were uniquely assembled through inclusion of long-reads, and 22% of the top 10% most abundant virus populations derived from assembly of long-reads. Viral populations unique to VirION2 assemblies had significantly higher microdiversity means, which may explain why short-read virome approaches failed to capture them. These findings suggest the VirION2 sample prep and workflow can help researchers better investigate the virosphere, even from challenging low-biomass samples. Our new protocols are available to the research community on protocols.io as a ‘living document’ to facilitate dissemination of updates to keep pace with the rapid evolution of long-read sequencing technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Zablocki
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America.,Center of Microbiome Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Michelle Michelsen
- School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
| | - Marie Burris
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Natalie Solonenko
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Joanna Warwick-Dugdale
- School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom.,Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom
| | - Romik Ghosh
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Jennifer Pett-Ridge
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, United States of America
| | - Matthew B Sullivan
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America.,Center of Microbiome Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America.,Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America
| | - Ben Temperton
- School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
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Whitford DS, Whitman BT, Owttrim GW. Genera specific distribution of DEAD-box RNA helicases in cyanobacteria. Microb Genom 2021; 7. [PMID: 33539277 PMCID: PMC8190605 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.000517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Although RNA helicases are essentially ubiquitous and perform roles in all stages of RNA metabolism, phylogenetic analysis of the DEAD (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp)-box RNA helicase family in a single phylum has not been performed. Here, we performed a phylogenetic analysis on DEAD-box helicases from all currently available cyanobacterial genomes, comprising a total of 362 helicase protein sequences from 280 strains. DEAD-box helicases belonging to three distinct clades were observed. Two clades, the CsdA (cold shock DEAD-box A)-like and RhlE (RNA helicase E)-like helicases, cluster with the homologous proteins from Escherichia coli. The third clade, the CrhR (cyanobacterial RNA helicase Redox)-like helicases, is unique to cyanobacteria and characterized by a conserved sequence motif in the C-terminal extension. Restricted distribution is observed across cyanobacterial diversity with respect to both helicase type and strain. CrhR-like and CsdA-like helicases essentially never occur together, while RhlE always occurs with either a CrhR-like or CsdA-like helicase. CrhR-like and RhlE-like proteins occurred in filamentous cyanobacteria of the orders Nostocales, Oscillatoriales and Synechococcales. Similarly, CsdA- and RhlE-like proteins are restricted to unicellular cyanobacteria of the genera Cyanobium and Synechococcus. In addition, the unexpected occurrence of RhlE in two Synechococcus strains suggests recent acquisition and evolutionary divergence. This study, therefore, raises physiological and evolutionary questions as to why DEAD-box RNA helicases encoded in cyanobacterial lineages display restricted distributions, suggesting niches that require either CrhR or CsdA RNA helicase activity but not both. Extensive conservation of gene synteny surrounding the previously described rimO–crhR operon is also observed, indicating a role in the maintenance of photosynthesis. The analysis provides insights into the evolution, origin and dissemination of sequences within a single gene family to yield divergent functional roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise S Whitford
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
| | - Brendan T Whitman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
| | - George W Owttrim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
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Marín S, Cabestrero O, Demergasso C, Olivares S, Zetola V, Vera M. An indigenous bacterium with enhanced performance of microbially-induced Ca-carbonate biomineralization under extreme alkaline conditions for concrete and soil-improvement industries. Acta Biomater 2021; 120:304-317. [PMID: 33212232 DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2020.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2020] [Revised: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The advantages of microbial induced carbonate mineralization for soil-stabilization and building-material industries are under extensive investigation. The pH is one of the influential parameters on the desired calcium carbonate mineralization due to the resulting textures of this mineral. Moreover, the decrease in microbial growth under the extreme alkaline environment compatible with the sustainability of concrete has been the bottleneck for an effective application of Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) in the concrete industry. Microbial consortia have shown more robustness in their resistance to environmental fluctuations than pure cultures. In addition, microorganisms obtained from alkaline environments could facilitate their adaptation to extreme alkalinity. The aim of this study was to obtain urease producing bacteria (UPB) able to maintain a high MICP performance under extremely alkaline conditions compatible with concrete by adapting native microorganisms obtained from extreme environments. The growth performance, urease activity, strength of the generated biocement, and CaCO3 mineralogy were compared with the best-performer urease-producing bacteria (UPB), S. pasteurii DSMZ 33. The native bacteria presented a similar performance in growth and urease activity than S. pasteurii under extreme alkaline conditions (pH 12.5). However, the generated biocement of native Sporosarcina sp. achieved 461 % more unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and 120 % more CaCO3 content than the biocement generated by S. pasteurii DSMZ 33. The careful adaptation process performed in this study for native UPB and S. pasteurii DSMZ 33 is an interesting approach with promising and projectable results for future engineering and biotechnological applications. These results have important implications for the design of engineering solutions involving MICP. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: A consolidated and strong biocement was generated by a native species obtained from extreme ecosystems in an effort of bioprospecting to enhance the performance of biotechnological solutions for geotechnical applications in the concrete and soil-improvement industries. Biocement generated by the native species was stronger than the generated by one of the best-described biocementation performers. This native species was able to actively growing and do perform microbial-induced-carbonate-mineralization under extreme alkalinity conditions after a careful laboratory adaptation process. The native species presented unique and differentiating traits that gave it a better adaptability and biocementation performance. The same occurs with a priceless microbial diversity inhabiting little explored and unprotected extreme ecosystems. Extreme environments house a fascinating biodiversity with potential value for ecosystem services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Marín
- Centro de Biotecnología Profesor Alberto Ruiz - CBAR, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
| | - Oscar Cabestrero
- Centro de Biotecnología Profesor Alberto Ruiz - CBAR, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
| | - Cecilia Demergasso
- Centro de Biotecnología Profesor Alberto Ruiz - CBAR, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
| | - Sarah Olivares
- Centro de Biotecnología Profesor Alberto Ruiz - CBAR, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
| | - Vicente Zetola
- Departamento de Gestión de la Construcción, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
| | - María Vera
- Centro de Biotecnología Profesor Alberto Ruiz - CBAR, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile; Departamento de Gestión de la Construcción, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile.
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11
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Nelson WC, Tully BJ, Mobberley JM. Biases in genome reconstruction from metagenomic data. PeerJ 2020; 8:e10119. [PMID: 33194386 PMCID: PMC7605220 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Advances in sequencing, assembly, and assortment of contigs into species-specific bins has enabled the reconstruction of genomes from metagenomic data (MAGs). Though a powerful technique, it is difficult to determine whether assembly and binning techniques are accurate when applied to environmental metagenomes due to a lack of complete reference genome sequences against which to check the resulting MAGs. METHODS We compared MAGs derived from an enrichment culture containing ~20 organisms to complete genome sequences of 10 organisms isolated from the enrichment culture. Factors commonly considered in binning software-nucleotide composition and sequence repetitiveness-were calculated for both the correctly binned and not-binned regions. This direct comparison revealed biases in sequence characteristics and gene content in the not-binned regions. Additionally, the composition of three public data sets representing MAGs reconstructed from the Tara Oceans metagenomic data was compared to a set of representative genomes available through NCBI RefSeq to verify that the biases identified were observable in more complex data sets and using three contemporary binning software packages. RESULTS Repeat sequences were frequently not binned in the genome reconstruction processes, as were sequence regions with variant nucleotide composition. Genes encoded on the not-binned regions were strongly biased towards ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs, mobile element functions and genes of unknown function. Our results support genome reconstruction as a robust process and suggest that reconstructions determined to be >90% complete are likely to effectively represent organismal function; however, population-level genotypic heterogeneity in natural populations, such as uneven distribution of plasmids, can lead to incorrect inferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- William C. Nelson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Benjamin J. Tully
- Department of Biological Sciences, Marine Environmental Biology Section, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer M. Mobberley
- Chemical and Biological Signature Science Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
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12
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Zhao Z, Liu Z, Mao X. Biotechnological Advances in Lycopene β-Cyclases. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY 2020; 68:11895-11907. [PMID: 33073992 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c04814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Lycopene β-cyclase is one of the key enzymes in the biosynthesis of carotenoids, which catalyzes the β-cyclization of both ends of lycopene to produce β-carotene. Lycopene β-cyclases are found in a wide range of sources, mainly plants and microorganisms. Lycopene β-cyclases have been extensively studied for their important catalytic activity, including for use in genetic engineering to modify plants and microorganisms, as a blocking target for lycopene industrial production strains, and for their genetic and physiological effects related to microorganic and plant biological traits. This review of lycopene β-cyclases summarizes the major studies on their basic classification, functional activity, metabolic engineering, and plant science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zilong Zhao
- College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Zhen Liu
- College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Xiangzhao Mao
- College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, China
- Laboratory for Marine Drugs and Bioproducts of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266237, China
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Nitrogen Source Governs Community Carbon Metabolism in a Model Hypersaline Benthic Phototrophic Biofilm. mSystems 2020; 5:5/3/e00260-20. [PMID: 32518194 PMCID: PMC7289588 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00260-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing anthropogenic inputs of fixed nitrogen are leading to greater eutrophication of aquatic environments, but it is unclear how this impacts the flux and fate of carbon in lacustrine and riverine systems. Here, we present evidence that the form of nitrogen governs the partitioning of carbon among members in a genome-sequenced, model phototrophic biofilm of 20 members. Consumption of NO3 - as the sole nitrogen source unexpectedly resulted in more rapid transfer of carbon to heterotrophs than when NH4 + was also provided, suggesting alterations in the form of carbon exchanged. The form of nitrogen dramatically impacted net community nitrogen, but not carbon, uptake rates. Furthermore, this alteration in nitrogen form caused very large but focused alterations to community structure, strongly impacting the abundance of only two species within the biofilm and modestly impacting a third member species. Our data suggest that nitrogen metabolism may coordinate coupled carbon-nitrogen biogeochemical cycling in benthic biofilms and, potentially, in phototroph-heterotroph consortia more broadly. It further indicates that the form of nitrogen inputs may significantly impact the contribution of these communities to carbon partitioning across the terrestrial-aquatic interface.IMPORTANCE Anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen into aquatic ecosystems, and especially those of agricultural origin, involve a mix of chemical species. Although it is well-known in general that nitrogen eutrophication markedly influences the metabolism of aquatic phototrophic communities, relatively little is known regarding whether the specific chemical form of nitrogen inputs matter. Our data suggest that the nitrogen form alters the rate of nitrogen uptake significantly, whereas corresponding alterations in carbon uptake were minor. However, differences imposed by uptake of divergent nitrogen forms may result in alterations among phototroph-heterotroph interactions that rewire community metabolism. Furthermore, our data hint that availability of other nutrients (i.e., iron) might mediate the linkage between carbon and nitrogen cycling in these communities. Taken together, our data suggest that different nitrogen forms should be examined for divergent impacts on phototrophic communities in fluvial systems and that these anthropogenic nitrogen inputs may significantly differ in their ultimate biogeochemical impacts.
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Temperature and Nutrient Levels Correspond with Lineage-Specific Microdiversification in the Ubiquitous and Abundant Freshwater Genus Limnohabitans. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020; 86:AEM.00140-20. [PMID: 32169939 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00140-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Most freshwater bacterial communities are characterized by a few dominant taxa that are often ubiquitous across freshwater biomes worldwide. Our understanding of the genomic diversity within these taxonomic groups is limited to a subset of taxa. Here, we investigated the genomic diversity that enables Limnohabitans, a freshwater genus key in funneling carbon from primary producers to higher trophic levels, to achieve abundance and ubiquity. We reconstructed eight putative Limnohabitans metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from stations located along broad environmental gradients existing in Lake Michigan, part of Earth's largest surface freshwater system. De novo strain inference analysis resolved a total of 23 strains from these MAGs, which strongly partitioned into two habitat-specific clusters with cooccurring strains from different lineages. The largest number of strains belonged to the abundant LimB lineage, for which robust in situ strain delineation had not previously been achieved. Our data show that temperature and nutrient levels may be important environmental parameters associated with microdiversification within the Limnohabitans genus. In addition, strains predominant in low- and high-phosphorus conditions had larger genomic divergence than strains abundant under different temperatures. Comparative genomics and gene expression analysis yielded evidence for the ability of LimB populations to exhibit cellular motility and chemotaxis, a phenotype not yet associated with available Limnohabitans isolates. Our findings broaden historical marker gene-based surveys of Limnohabitans microdiversification and provide in situ evidence of genome diversity and its functional implications across freshwater gradients.IMPORTANCE Limnohabitans is an important bacterial taxonomic group for cycling carbon in freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Here, we examined the genomic diversity of different Limnohabitans lineages. We focused on the LimB lineage of this genus, which is globally distributed and often abundant, and its abundance has shown to be largely invariant to environmental change. Our data show that the LimB lineage is actually comprised of multiple cooccurring populations for which the composition and genomic characteristics are associated with variations in temperature and nutrient levels. The gene expression profiles of this lineage suggest the importance of chemotaxis and motility, traits that had not yet been associated with the Limnohabitans genus, in adapting to environmental conditions.
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Sun H, Mei R, Zhang XX, Ren H, Liu WT, Ye L. Bacterial enrichment in highly-selective acetate-fed bioreactors and its application in rapid biofilm formation. WATER RESEARCH 2020; 170:115359. [PMID: 31821931 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115359] [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: 06/04/2019] [Revised: 10/19/2019] [Accepted: 11/30/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we systematically investigated the bacterial community dynamics in highly-selective (strong hydraulic selection pressure and high organic loading rate) bioreactors with acetate as the sole carbon source. 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic sequencing results showed that phenolics-degrading bacteria (PDB), which were mainly Acinetobacter species, in the newly-formed aerobic granules could account for >70% of the total bacteria. Near full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained by cloning suggest that the PDB are potentially novel species because they are distantly related to known Acinetobacter species. However, these PDB only temporarily appeared in the early stage of the granule formation and their abundance quickly decreased along the reactor operation. To retain these PDB, we demonstrated that the newly-formed aerobic granules could accelerate biofilm formation in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs), and the biofilm carriers showed gradually-increased phenol degradation performance in the MBBRs. While, the bacterial community in biofilm significantly changed during the operation process of the MBBRs and the community structure became more complicated than that in the aerobic granules. Collectively, this study provides new insights into the microbial ecology of sludge granulation and biofilm formation process in the wastewater treatment systems for remediating phenolic matters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haohao Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Ran Mei
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Xu-Xiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Hongqiang Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Wen-Tso Liu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Lin Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
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Ye L, Mei R, Liu WT, Ren H, Zhang XX. Machine learning-aided analyses of thousands of draft genomes reveal specific features of activated sludge processes. MICROBIOME 2020; 8:16. [PMID: 32046778 PMCID: PMC7014675 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-020-0794-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Microorganisms in activated sludge (AS) play key roles in the wastewater treatment processes. However, their ecological behaviors and differences from microorganisms in other environments have mainly been studied using the 16S rRNA gene that may not truly represent in situ functions. RESULTS Here, we present 2045 archaeal and bacterial metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) recovered from 1.35 Tb of metagenomic data generated from 114 AS samples of 23 full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). We found that the AS MAGs have obvious plant-specific features and that few proteins are shared by different WWTPs, especially for WWTPs located in geographically distant areas. Further, we developed a novel machine learning approach that can distinguish between AS MAGs and MAGs from other environments based on the clusters of orthologous groups of proteins with an accuracy of 96%. With the aid of machine learning, we also identified some functional features (e.g., functions related to aerobic metabolism, nutrient sensing/acquisition, and biofilm formation) that are likely vital for AS bacteria to adapt themselves in wastewater treatment bioreactors. CONCLUSIONS Our work reveals that, although the bacterial species in different municipal WWTPs could be different, they may have similar deterministic functional features that allow them to adapt to the AS systems. Also, we provide valuable genome resources and a novel approach for future investigation and better understanding of the microbiome of AS and other ecosystems. Video Abtract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Ran Mei
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Wen-Tso Liu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
| | - Hongqiang Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xu-Xiang Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
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MhpA Is a Hydroxylase Catalyzing the Initial Reaction of 3-(3-Hydroxyphenyl)Propionate Catabolism in Escherichia coli K-12. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020; 86:AEM.02385-19. [PMID: 31811039 DOI: 10.1128/aem.02385-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Escherichia coli K-12 and some other strains have been reported to be capable of utilizing 3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)propionate (3HPP), one of the phenylpropanoids from lignin. Although other enzymes involved in 3HPP catabolism and their corresponding genes from its degraders have been identified, 3HPP 2-hydroxylase, catalyzing the first step of its catabolism, has yet to be functionally identified at biochemical and genetic levels. In this study, we investigated the function and characteristics of MhpA from E. coli strain K-12 (MhpAK-12). Gene deletion and complementation showed that mhpA was vital for its growth on 3HPP, but the mhpA deletion strain was still able to grow on 3-(2,3-dihydroxyphenyl)propionate (DHPP), the hydroxylation product transformed from 3HPP by MhpAK-12 MhpAK-12 was overexpressed and purified, and it was likely a polymer and tightly bound with an approximately equal number of moles of FAD. Using NADH or NADPH as a cofactor, purified MhpAK-12 catalyzed the conversion of 3HPP to DHPP at a similar efficiency. The conversion from 3HPP to DHPP by purified MhpAK-12 was confirmed using high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that MhpAK-12 and its putative homologues belonged to taxa that were phylogenetically distant from functionally identified FAD-containing monooxygenases (hydroxylases). Interestingly, MhpAK-12 has approximately an extra 150 residues at its C terminus in comparison to its close homologues, but its truncated versions MhpAK-12 400 and MhpAK-12 480 (with 154 and 74 residues deleted from the C terminus, respectively) both lost their activities. Thus, MhpAK-12 has been confirmed to be a 3HPP 2-hydroxylase catalyzing the conversion of 3HPP to DHPP, the initial reaction of 3HPP degradation.IMPORTANCE Phenylpropionate and its hydroxylated derivatives resulted from lignin degradation ubiquitously exist on the Earth. A number of bacterial strains have the ability to grow on 3HPP, one of the above derivatives. The hydroxylation was thought to be the initial and vital step for its aerobic catabolism via the meta pathway. The significance of our research is the functional identification and characterization of the purified 3HPP 2-hydroxylase MhpA from Escherichia coli K-12 at biochemical and genetic levels, since this enzyme has not previously been expressed from its encoding gene, purified, and characterized in any bacteria. It will not only fill a gap in our understanding of 3HPP 2-hydroxylase and its corresponding gene for the critical step in microbial 3HPP catabolism but also provide another example of the diversity of microbial degradation of plant-derived phenylpropionate and its hydroxylated derivatives.
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Vavourakis CD, Andrei AS, Mehrshad M, Ghai R, Sorokin DY, Muyzer G. A metagenomics roadmap to the uncultured genome diversity in hypersaline soda lake sediments. MICROBIOME 2018; 6:168. [PMID: 30231921 PMCID: PMC6146748 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-018-0548-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2018] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Hypersaline soda lakes are characterized by extreme high soluble carbonate alkalinity. Despite the high pH and salt content, highly diverse microbial communities are known to be present in soda lake brines but the microbiome of soda lake sediments received much less attention of microbiologists. Here, we performed metagenomic sequencing on soda lake sediments to give the first extensive overview of the taxonomic diversity found in these complex, extreme environments and to gain novel physiological insights into the most abundant, uncultured prokaryote lineages. RESULTS We sequenced five metagenomes obtained from four surface sediments of Siberian soda lakes with a pH 10 and a salt content between 70 and 400 g L-1. The recovered 16S rRNA gene sequences were mostly from Bacteria, even in the salt-saturated lakes. Most OTUs were assigned to uncultured families. We reconstructed 871 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) spanning more than 45 phyla and discovered the first extremophilic members of the Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR). Five new species of CPR were among the most dominant community members. Novel dominant lineages were found within previously well-characterized functional groups involved in carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen cycling. Moreover, key enzymes of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway were encoded within at least four bacterial phyla never previously associated with this ancient anaerobic pathway for carbon fixation and dissimilation, including the Actinobacteria. CONCLUSIONS Our first sequencing effort of hypersaline soda lake sediment metagenomes led to two important advances. First, we showed the existence and obtained the first genomes of haloalkaliphilic members of the CPR and several hundred other novel prokaryote lineages. The soda lake CPR is a functionally diverse group, but the most abundant organisms in this study are likely fermenters with a possible role in primary carbon degradation. Second, we found evidence for the presence of the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway in many more taxonomic groups than those encompassing known homo-acetogens, sulfate-reducers, and methanogens. Since only few environmental metagenomics studies have targeted sediment microbial communities and never to this extent, we expect that our findings are relevant not only for the understanding of haloalkaline environments but can also be used to set targets for future studies on marine and freshwater sediments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte D. Vavourakis
- Microbial Systems Ecology, Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Adrian-Stefan Andrei
- Department of Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre CAS, Na Sadkach 7, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Maliheh Mehrshad
- Department of Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre CAS, Na Sadkach 7, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Rohit Ghai
- Department of Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre CAS, Na Sadkach 7, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Dimitry Y. Sorokin
- Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Research Centre of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 60 let Oktyabrya pr-t, 7, bld. 2, Moscow, Russian Federation 117312
- Environmental Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Gerard Muyzer
- Microbial Systems Ecology, Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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Arora-Williams K, Olesen SW, Scandella BP, Delwiche K, Spencer SJ, Myers EM, Abraham S, Sooklal A, Preheim SP. Dynamics of microbial populations mediating biogeochemical cycling in a freshwater lake. MICROBIOME 2018; 6:165. [PMID: 30227897 PMCID: PMC6145348 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-018-0556-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2018] [Accepted: 09/05/2018] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Microbial processes are intricately linked to the depletion of oxygen in in-land and coastal water bodies, with devastating economic and ecological consequences. Microorganisms deplete oxygen during biomass decomposition, degrading the habitat of many economically important aquatic animals. Microbes then turn to alternative electron acceptors, which alter nutrient cycling and generate potent greenhouse gases. As oxygen depletion is expected to worsen with altered land use and climate change, understanding how chemical and microbial dynamics impact dead zones will aid modeling efforts to guide remediation strategies. More work is needed to understand the complex interplay between microbial genes, populations, and biogeochemistry during oxygen depletion. RESULTS Here, we used 16S rRNA gene surveys, shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and a previously developed biogeochemical model to identify genes and microbial populations implicated in major biogeochemical transformations in a model lake ecosystem. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was done for one time point in Aug., 2013, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was done for a 5-month time series (Mar.-Aug., 2013) to capture the spatiotemporal dynamics of genes and microorganisms mediating the modeled processes. Metagenomic binning analysis resulted in many metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that are implicated in the modeled processes through gene content similarity to cultured organism and the presence of key genes involved in these pathways. The MAGs suggested some populations are capable of methane and sulfide oxidation coupled to nitrate reduction. Using the model, we observe that modulating these processes has a substantial impact on overall lake biogeochemistry. Additionally, 16S rRNA gene sequences from the metagenomic and amplicon libraries were linked to processes through the MAGs. We compared the dynamics of microbial populations in the water column to the model predictions. Many microbial populations involved in primary carbon oxidation had dynamics similar to the model, while those associated with secondary oxidation processes deviated substantially. CONCLUSIONS This work demonstrates that the unique capabilities of resident microbial populations will substantially impact the concentration and speciation of chemicals in the water column, unless other microbial processes adjust to compensate for these differences. It further highlights the importance of the biological aspects of biogeochemical processes, such as fluctuations in microbial population dynamics. Integrating gene and population dynamics into biogeochemical models has the potential to improve predictions of the community response under altered scenarios to guide remediation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keith Arora-Williams
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Scott W. Olesen
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
- Present address: Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA USA
| | - Benjamin P. Scandella
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
- Present address: Oregon Water Resources Department, Salem, OR USA
| | - Kyle Delwiche
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Sarah J. Spencer
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Elise M. Myers
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA
- Present address: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY USA
| | - Sonali Abraham
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
- Present address: Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA USA
| | - Alyssa Sooklal
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
| | - Sarah P. Preheim
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD USA
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ezTree: an automated pipeline for identifying phylogenetic marker genes and inferring evolutionary relationships among uncultivated prokaryotic draft genomes. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:921. [PMID: 29363425 PMCID: PMC5780852 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-4327-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Inferring phylogenetic trees for newly recovered genomes from metagenomic samples is very useful in determining the identities of uncultivated microorganisms. Even though 16S ribosomal RNA small subunit genes have been established as "gold standard" markers for inferring phylogenetic trees, they usually cannot be assembled very well in metagenomes due to shared regions among 16S genes. Using single-copy marker genes to build genome trees has become increasingly popular for uncultivated species. Predefined marker gene sets were discovered and have been applied in various genomic studies; however these gene sets might not be adequate for novel, uncultivated, draft, or incomplete genomes. The automatic identification of marker gene sets among a set of genomes with different assembly qualities has thus become a very important task for inferring reliable phylogenetic relationships for microbial populations. RESULTS A computational pipeline, ezTree, was developed to automatically identify single-copy marker genes for a group of genomes and build phylogenetic trees from the marker genes. Testing ezTree on a group of proteobacteria species revealed that ezTree was highly effective in pinpointing marker genes and constructing reliable trees for different groups of bacterial genomes. Applying ezTree to genomes that were recently recovered from metagenomes also showed that ezTree can help elucidate taxonomic relationships among newly recovered genomes and existing ones. CONCLUSIONS The development of ezTree can help scientists build reliable phylogenetic trees for uncultivated species retrieved from environmental samples. The uncovered single-copy marker genes may also provide crucial hints for understanding shared features of a group of microbes. The ezTree pipeline is freely available at https://github.com/yuwwu/ezTree under a GNU GPLv3 license.
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Phenotypic responses to interspecies competition and commensalism in a naturally-derived microbial co-culture. Sci Rep 2018; 8:297. [PMID: 29321512 PMCID: PMC5762899 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18630-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2017] [Accepted: 12/14/2017] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The fundamental question of whether different microbial species will co-exist or compete in a given environment depends on context, composition and environmental constraints. Model microbial systems can yield some general principles related to this question. In this study we employed a naturally occurring co-culture composed of heterotrophic bacteria, Halomonas sp. HL-48 and Marinobacter sp. HL-58, to ask two fundamental scientific questions: 1) how do the phenotypes of two naturally co-existing species respond to partnership as compared to axenic growth? and 2) how do growth and molecular phenotypes of these species change with respect to competitive and commensal interactions? We hypothesized – and confirmed – that co-cultivation under glucose as the sole carbon source would result in competitive interactions. Similarly, when glucose was swapped with xylose, the interactions became commensal because Marinobacter HL-58 was supported by metabolites derived from Halomonas HL-48. Each species responded to partnership by changing both its growth and molecular phenotype as assayed via batch growth kinetics and global transcriptomics. These phenotypic responses depended on nutrient availability and so the environment ultimately controlled how they responded to each other. This simplified model community revealed that microbial interactions are context-specific and different environmental conditions dictate how interspecies partnerships will unfold.
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Herath D, Jayasundara D, Ackland D, Saeed I, Tang SL, Halgamuge S. Assessing Species Diversity Using Metavirome Data: Methods and Challenges. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2017; 15:447-455. [PMID: 29085573 PMCID: PMC5650650 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2017.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2017] [Revised: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 09/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Assessing biodiversity is an important step in the study of microbial ecology associated with a given environment. Multiple indices have been used to quantify species diversity, which is a key biodiversity measure. Measuring species diversity of viruses in different environments remains a challenge relative to measuring the diversity of other microbial communities. Metagenomics has played an important role in elucidating viral diversity by conducting metavirome studies; however, metavirome data are of high complexity requiring robust data preprocessing and analysis methods. In this review, existing bioinformatics methods for measuring species diversity using metavirome data are categorised broadly as either sequence similarity-dependent methods or sequence similarity-independent methods. The former includes a comparison of DNA fragments or assemblies generated in the experiment against reference databases for quantifying species diversity, whereas estimates from the latter are independent of the knowledge of existing sequence data. Current methods and tools are discussed in detail, including their applications and limitations. Drawbacks of the state-of-the-art method are demonstrated through results from a simulation. In addition, alternative approaches are proposed to overcome the challenges in estimating species diversity measures using metavirome data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damayanthi Herath
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010 Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Prof. E. O. E. Pereira Mawatha, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka
| | - Duleepa Jayasundara
- School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - David Ackland
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010 Melbourne, Australia
| | - Isaam Saeed
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010 Melbourne, Australia
| | - Sen-Lin Tang
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nan-Kang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
| | - Saman Halgamuge
- Research School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, The Australian National University, Canberra 2601, ACT, Australia
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Bowers RM, Kyrpides NC, Stepanauskas R, Harmon-Smith M, Doud D, Reddy TBK, Schulz F, Jarett J, Rivers AR, Eloe-Fadrosh EA, Tringe SG, Ivanova NN, Copeland A, Clum A, Becraft ED, Malmstrom RR, Birren B, Podar M, Bork P, Weinstock GM, Garrity GM, Dodsworth JA, Yooseph S, Sutton G, Glöckner FO, Gilbert JA, Nelson WC, Hallam SJ, Jungbluth SP, Ettema TJG, Tighe S, Konstantinidis KT, Liu WT, Baker BJ, Rattei T, Eisen JA, Hedlund B, McMahon KD, Fierer N, Knight R, Finn R, Cochrane G, Karsch-Mizrachi I, Tyson GW, Rinke C, Lapidus A, Meyer F, Yilmaz P, Parks DH, Eren AM, Schriml L, Banfield JF, Hugenholtz P, Woyke T. Minimum information about a single amplified genome (MISAG) and a metagenome-assembled genome (MIMAG) of bacteria and archaea. Nat Biotechnol 2017; 35:725-731. [PMID: 28787424 PMCID: PMC6436528 DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1089] [Impact Index Per Article: 155.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2016] [Accepted: 04/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Standards for sequencing the microbial 'uncultivated majority', namely bacterial and archaeal single-cell genome sequences, and genome sequences from metagenomic datasets, are proposed. We present two standards developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting bacterial and archaeal genome sequences. Both are extensions of the Minimum Information about Any (x) Sequence (MIxS). The standards are the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and the Minimum Information about a Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG), including, but not limited to, assembly quality, and estimates of genome completeness and contamination. These standards can be used in combination with other GSC checklists, including the Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence (MIGS), Minimum Information about a Metagenomic Sequence (MIMS), and Minimum Information about a Marker Gene Sequence (MIMARKS). Community-wide adoption of MISAG and MIMAG will facilitate more robust comparative genomic analyses of bacterial and archaeal diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M Bowers
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Nikos C Kyrpides
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | | | | | - Devin Doud
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - T B K Reddy
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Frederik Schulz
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Jessica Jarett
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Adam R Rivers
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.,United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Unit, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | | | - Susannah G Tringe
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.,School of Natural Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California, USA
| | - Natalia N Ivanova
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Alex Copeland
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Alicia Clum
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | - Eric D Becraft
- Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, Maine, USA
| | - Rex R Malmstrom
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA
| | | | - Mircea Podar
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oakridge Tennessee, USA
| | - Peer Bork
- Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - George M Weinstock
- The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, Connecticut, USA
| | - George M Garrity
- Department of Microbiology &Molecular Genetics, Biomedical Physical Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Jeremy A Dodsworth
- Department of Biology, California State University, San Bernardino, California, USA
| | - Shibu Yooseph
- J. Craig Venter Institute, San Diego, California, USA
| | | | - Frank O Glöckner
- Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
| | - Jack A Gilbert
- Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA.,Department of Surgery, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - William C Nelson
- Biological Sciences Division, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA
| | - Steven J Hallam
- Department of Microbiology &Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Sean P Jungbluth
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.,Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Thijs J G Ettema
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Scott Tighe
- Advanced Genomics Lab, University of Vermont Cancer Center, Burlington Vermont, USA
| | | | - Wen-Tso Liu
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA
| | - Brett J Baker
- Department of Marine Science, University of Texas-Austin, Marine Science Institute, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Thomas Rattei
- Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Brian Hedlund
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.,Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
| | - Katherine D McMahon
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.,Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Noah Fierer
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Rob Knight
- Center for Microbiome Innovation, and Departments of Pediatrics and Computer Science &Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
| | - Rob Finn
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Welcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK
| | - Guy Cochrane
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Welcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ilene Karsch-Mizrachi
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Gene W Tyson
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Christian Rinke
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | | | - Alla Lapidus
- Centre for Algorithmic Biotechnology, ITBM, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Folker Meyer
- Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA
| | - Pelin Yilmaz
- Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
| | - Donovan H Parks
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - A M Eren
- Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Lynn Schriml
- National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, USA
| | - Jillian F Banfield
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Philip Hugenholtz
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Tanja Woyke
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.,School of Natural Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California, USA
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24
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Leyn SA, Maezato Y, Romine MF, Rodionov DA. Genomic Reconstruction of Carbohydrate Utilization Capacities in Microbial-Mat Derived Consortia. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1304. [PMID: 28751880 PMCID: PMC5507952 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2017] [Accepted: 06/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Two nearly identical unicyanobacterial consortia (UCC) were previously isolated from benthic microbial mats that occur in a heliothermal saline lake in northern Washington State. Carbohydrates are a primary source of carbon and energy for most heterotrophic bacteria. Since CO2 is the only carbon source provided, the cyanobacterium must provide a source of carbon to the heterotrophs. Available genomic sequences for all members of the UCC provide opportunity to investigate the metabolic routes of carbon transfer between autotroph and heterotrophs. Here, we applied a subsystem-based comparative genomics approach to reconstruct carbohydrate utilization pathways and identify glycohydrolytic enzymes, carbohydrate transporters and pathway-specific transcriptional regulators in 17 heterotrophic members of the UCC. The reconstructed metabolic pathways include 800 genes, near a one-fourth of which encode enzymes, transporters and regulators with newly assigned metabolic functions resulting in discovery of novel functional variants of carbohydrate utilization pathways. The in silico analysis revealed the utilization capabilities for 40 carbohydrates and their derivatives. Two Halomonas species demonstrated the largest number of sugar catabolic pathways. Trehalose, sucrose, maltose, glucose, and beta-glucosides are the most commonly utilized saccharides in this community. Reconstructed regulons for global regulators HexR and CceR include central carbohydrate metabolism genes in the members of Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria, respectively. Genomics analyses were supplemented by experimental characterization of metabolic phenotypes in four isolates derived from the consortia. Measurements of isolate growth on the defined medium supplied with individual carbohydrates confirmed most of the predicted catabolic phenotypes. Not all consortia members use carbohydrates and only a few use complex polysaccharides suggesting a hierarchical carbon flow from cyanobacteria to each heterotroph. In summary, the genomics-based identification of carbohydrate utilization capabilities provides a basis for future experimental studies of carbon flow in UCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Semen A Leyn
- Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La JollaCA, United States.,A. A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia
| | - Yukari Maezato
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - Margaret F Romine
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - Dmitry A Rodionov
- Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La JollaCA, United States.,A. A. Kharkevich Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of SciencesMoscow, Russia
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25
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Lindemann SR, Mobberley JM, Cole JK, Markillie LM, Taylor RC, Huang E, Chrisler WB, Wiley HS, Lipton MS, Nelson WC, Fredrickson JK, Romine MF. Predicting Species-Resolved Macronutrient Acquisition during Succession in a Model Phototrophic Biofilm Using an Integrated 'Omics Approach. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1020. [PMID: 28659875 PMCID: PMC5468372 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 214] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 05/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The principles governing acquisition and interspecies exchange of nutrients in microbial communities and how those exchanges impact community productivity are poorly understood. Here, we examine energy and macronutrient acquisition in unicyanobacterial consortia for which species-resolved genome information exists for all members, allowing us to use multi-omic approaches to predict species' abilities to acquire resources and examine expression of resource-acquisition genes during succession. Metabolic reconstruction indicated that a majority of heterotrophic community members lacked the genes required to directly acquire the inorganic nutrients provided in culture medium, suggesting high metabolic interdependency. The sole primary producer in consortium UCC-O, cyanobacterium Phormidium sp. OSCR, displayed declining expression of energy harvest, carbon fixation, and nitrate and sulfate reduction proteins but sharply increasing phosphate transporter expression over 28 days. Most heterotrophic members likewise exhibited signs of phosphorus starvation during succession. Though similar in their responses to phosphorus limitation, heterotrophs displayed species-specific expression of nitrogen acquisition genes. These results suggest niche partitioning around nitrogen sources may structure the community when organisms directly compete for limited phosphate. Such niche complementarity around nitrogen sources may increase community diversity and productivity in phosphate-limited phototrophic communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen R Lindemann
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States.,Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, Department of Food Science, Purdue University, West LafayetteIN, United States.,Department of Nutrition Science, Purdue University, West LafayetteIN, United States
| | - Jennifer M Mobberley
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - Jessica K Cole
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - L M Markillie
- Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, Department of Food Science, Purdue University, West LafayetteIN, United States
| | - Ronald C Taylor
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - Eric Huang
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - William B Chrisler
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - H S Wiley
- Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - Mary S Lipton
- Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - William C Nelson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - James K Fredrickson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
| | - Margaret F Romine
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, RichlandWA, United States
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26
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Kouzuma A, Tsutsumi M, Ishii S, Ueno Y, Abe T, Watanabe K. Non-autotrophic methanogens dominate in anaerobic digesters. Sci Rep 2017; 7:1510. [PMID: 28473726 PMCID: PMC5431450 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01752-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Anaerobic digesters are man-made habitats for fermentative and methanogenic microbes, and are characterized by extremely high concentrations of organics. However, little is known about how microbes adapt to such habitats. In the present study, we report phylogenetic, metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic analyses of microbiomes in thermophilic packed-bed digesters fed acetate as the major substrate, and we have shown that acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens that utilize acetate as a carbon source dominate there. Deep sequencing and precise binning of the metagenomes reconstructed complete genomes for two dominant methanogens affiliated with the genera Methanosarcina and Methanothermobacter, along with 37 draft genomes. The reconstructed Methanosarcina genome was almost identical to that of a thermophilic acetoclastic methanogen Methanosarcina thermophila TM-1, indicating its cosmopolitan distribution in thermophilic digesters. The reconstructed Methanothermobacter (designated as Met2) was closely related to Methanothermobacter tenebrarum, a non-autotrophic hydrogenotrophic methanogen that grows in the presence of acetate. Met2 lacks the Cdh complex required for CO2 fixation, suggesting that it requires organic molecules, such as acetate, as carbon sources. Although the metagenomic analysis also detected autotrophic methanogens, they were less than 1% in abundance of Met2. These results suggested that non-autotrophic methanogens preferentially grow in anaerobic digesters containing high concentrations of organics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsushi Kouzuma
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan.
| | - Maho Tsutsumi
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
| | - Shun'ichi Ishii
- R&D Center for Submarine Resources, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Nankoku, Kochi, 783-8502, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Ueno
- Kajima Technical Research Institute, Chofu, Tokyo, 182-0036, Japan
| | - Takashi Abe
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan
| | - Kazuya Watanabe
- School of Life Sciences, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
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27
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Lemos LN, Pereira RV, Quaggio RB, Martins LF, Moura LMS, da Silva AR, Antunes LP, da Silva AM, Setubal JC. Genome-Centric Analysis of a Thermophilic and Cellulolytic Bacterial Consortium Derived from Composting. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:644. [PMID: 28469608 PMCID: PMC5395642 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2017] [Accepted: 03/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbial consortia selected from complex lignocellulolytic microbial communities are promising alternatives to deconstruct plant waste, since synergistic action of different enzymes is required for full degradation of plant biomass in biorefining applications. Culture enrichment also facilitates the study of interactions among consortium members, and can be a good source of novel microbial species. Here, we used a sample from a plant waste composting operation in the São Paulo Zoo (Brazil) as inoculum to obtain a thermophilic aerobic consortium enriched through multiple passages at 60°C in carboxymethylcellulose as sole carbon source. The microbial community composition of this consortium was investigated by shotgun metagenomics and genome-centric analysis. Six near-complete (over 90%) genomes were reconstructed. Similarity and phylogenetic analyses show that four of these six genomes are novel, with the following hypothesized identifications: a new Thermobacillus species; the first Bacillus thermozeamaize genome (for which currently only 16S sequences are available) or else the first representative of a new family in the Bacillales order; the first representative of a new genus in the Paenibacillaceae family; and the first representative of a new deep-branching family in the Clostridia class. The reconstructed genomes from known species were identified as Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius and Caldibacillus debilis. The metabolic potential of these recovered genomes based on COG and CAZy analyses show that these genomes encode several glycoside hydrolases (GHs) as well as other genes related to lignocellulose breakdown. The new Thermobacillus species stands out for being the richest in diversity and abundance of GHs, possessing the greatest potential for biomass degradation among the six recovered genomes. We also investigated the presence and activity of the organisms corresponding to these genomes in the composting operation from which the consortium was built, using compost metagenome and metatranscriptome datasets generated in a previous study. We obtained strong evidence that five of the six recovered genomes are indeed present and active in that composting process. We have thus discovered three (perhaps four) new thermophillic bacterial species that add to the increasing repertoire of known lignocellulose degraders, whose biotechnological potential can now be investigated in further studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leandro N Lemos
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil.,Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Bioinformática, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Roberta V Pereira
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Ronaldo B Quaggio
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Layla F Martins
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Livia M S Moura
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil.,Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Bioinformática, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Amanda R da Silva
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil.,Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Bioinformática, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Luciana P Antunes
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - Aline M da Silva
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil
| | - João C Setubal
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil.,Biocomplexity Institute, Virginia TechBlacksburg, VA, USA
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28
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Underlying mechanisms for syntrophic metabolism of essential enzyme cofactors in microbial communities. ISME JOURNAL 2017; 11:1434-1446. [PMID: 28186498 DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2017.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2016] [Revised: 11/11/2016] [Accepted: 12/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Many microorganisms are unable to synthesize essential B vitamin-related enzyme cofactors de novo. The underlying mechanisms by which such microbes survive in multi-species communities are largely unknown. We previously reported the near-complete genome sequence of two ~18-member unicyanobacterial microbial consortia that maintain stable membership on defined medium lacking vitamins. Here we have used genome analysis and growth studies on isolates derived from the consortia to reconstruct pathways for biogenesis of eight essential cofactors and predict cofactor usage and precursor exchange in these communities. Our analyses revealed that all but the two Halomonas and cyanobacterial community members were auxotrophic for at least one cofactor. We also observed a mosaic distribution of salvage routes for a variety of cofactor precursors, including those produced by photolysis. Potentially bidirectional transporters were observed to be preferentially in prototrophs, suggesting a mechanism for controlled precursor release. Furthermore, we found that Halomonas sp. do not require cobalamin nor control its synthesis, supporting the hypothesis that they overproduce and export vitamins. Collectively, these observations suggest that the consortia rely on syntrophic metabolism of cofactors as a survival strategy for optimization of metabolic exchange within a shared pool of micronutrients.
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29
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Bernstein HC, Brislawn C, Renslow RS, Dana K, Morton B, Lindemann SR, Song HS, Atci E, Beyenal H, Fredrickson JK, Jansson JK, Moran JJ. Trade-offs between microbiome diversity and productivity in a stratified microbial mat. THE ISME JOURNAL 2017; 11:405-414. [PMID: 27801910 PMCID: PMC5270574 DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2016.133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2016] [Revised: 07/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Productivity is a major determinant of ecosystem diversity. Microbial ecosystems are the most diverse on the planet yet very few relationships between diversity and productivity have been reported as compared with macro-ecological studies. Here we evaluated the spatial relationships of productivity and microbiome diversity in a laboratory-cultivated photosynthetic mat. The goal was to determine how spatial diversification of microorganisms drives localized carbon and energy acquisition rates. We measured sub-millimeter depth profiles of net primary productivity and gross oxygenic photosynthesis in the context of the localized microenvironment and community structure, and observed negative correlations between species richness and productivity within the energy-replete, photic zone. Variations between localized community structures were associated with distinct taxa as well as environmental profiles describing a continuum of biological niches. Spatial regions in the photic zone corresponding to high primary productivity and photosynthesis rates had relatively low-species richness and high evenness. Hence, this system exhibited negative species-productivity and species-energy relationships. These negative relationships may be indicative of stratified, light-driven microbial ecosystems that are able to be the most productive with a relatively smaller, even distributions of species that specialize within photic zones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans C Bernstein
- Chemical and Biological Signature Science, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
- The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Colin Brislawn
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Ryan S Renslow
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
- The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Karl Dana
- Chemical and Biological Signature Science, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Beau Morton
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Stephen R Lindemann
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Hyun-Seob Song
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Erhan Atci
- The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Haluk Beyenal
- The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - James K Fredrickson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - Janet K Jansson
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
| | - James J Moran
- Chemical and Biological Signature Science, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
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30
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Mukherjee N, Bartelli D, Patra C, Chauhan BV, Dowd SE, Banerjee P. Microbial Diversity of Source and Point-of-Use Water in Rural Haiti - A Pyrosequencing-Based Metagenomic Survey. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0167353. [PMID: 27936055 PMCID: PMC5147895 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2016] [Accepted: 11/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Haiti endures the poorest water and sanitation infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere, where waterborne diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality. Most of these diseases are reported to be caused by waterborne pathogens. In this study, we examined the overall bacterial diversity of selected source and point-of-use water from rural areas in Central Plateau, Haiti using pyrosequencing of 16s rRNA genes. Taxonomic composition of water samples revealed an abundance of Firmicutes phyla, followed by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. A total of 38 bacterial families and 60 genera were identified. The presence of several Klebsiella spp. (tentatively, K. pneumoniae, K. variicola and other Klebsiella spp.) was detected in most water samples. Several other human pathogens such as Aeromonas, Bacillus, Clostridium, and Yersinia constituted significantly higher proportion of bacterial communities in the point-of-use water samples compared to source water. Bacterial genera traditionally associated with biofilm formation, such as Chryseobacterium, Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Pseudomonas were found in the point-of-use waters obtained from water filters or domestic water storage containers. Although the pyrosequencing method utilized in this study did not reveal the viability status of these pathogens, the abundance of genetic footprints of the pathogens in water samples indicate the probable risk of bacterial transmission to humans. Therefore, the importance of appropriate handling, purification, and treatment of the source water needed to be clearly communicated to the communities in rural Haiti to ensure the water is safe for their daily use and intake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nabanita Mukherjee
- Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Desoto Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Debra Bartelli
- Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Desoto Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Cyril Patra
- Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Desoto Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Bhavin V. Chauhan
- Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Desoto Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Scot E. Dowd
- Molecular Research LP (MR DNA), Shallowater, Texas, United States of America
| | - Pratik Banerjee
- Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Desoto Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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31
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Brown CT, Olm MR, Thomas BC, Banfield JF. Measurement of bacterial replication rates in microbial communities. Nat Biotechnol 2016; 34:1256-1263. [PMID: 27819664 DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 232] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2016] [Accepted: 09/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Culture-independent microbiome studies have increased our understanding of the complexity and metabolic potential of microbial communities. However, to understand the contribution of individual microbiome members to community functions, it is important to determine which bacteria are actively replicating. We developed an algorithm, iRep, that uses draft-quality genome sequences and single time-point metagenome sequencing to infer microbial population replication rates. The algorithm calculates an index of replication (iRep) based on the sequencing coverage trend that results from bi-directional genome replication from a single origin of replication. We apply this method to show that microbial replication rates increase after antibiotic administration in human infants. We also show that uncultivated, groundwater-associated, Candidate Phyla Radiation bacteria only rarely replicate quickly in subsurface communities undergoing substantial changes in geochemistry. Our method can be applied to any genome-resolved microbiome study to track organism responses to varying conditions, identify actively growing populations and measure replication rates for use in modeling studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher T Brown
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Matthew R Olm
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Brian C Thomas
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Jillian F Banfield
- Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.,Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.,Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA
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Song JY, Hong J, Kwak MJ, Kwon SK, Kim JF. Genome Sequence of Porphyrobacter dokdonensis DSW-74T, Isolated from Seawater off Dokdo in the East Sea (Sea of Korea). GENOME ANNOUNCEMENTS 2016; 4:e00903-16. [PMID: 27587820 PMCID: PMC5009977 DOI: 10.1128/genomea.00903-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2016] [Accepted: 07/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Porphyrobacter dokdonensis strain DSW-74, isolated from seawater off of Dokdo, Republic of Korea, is a member of the family Erythrobacteraceae In this study, the genome sequence of DSW-74 was determined using the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform and assembled into 11 contigs. Its genome is approximately 3.0 Mb with a G+C content of 64.8%, in which 2,875 protein-coding sequences and 47 RNA genes were predicted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ju Yeon Song
- Department of Systems Biology and Division of Life Sciences, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Juhye Hong
- Department of Systems Biology and Division of Life Sciences, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Min-Jung Kwak
- Department of Systems Biology and Division of Life Sciences, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Soon-Kyeong Kwon
- Department of Systems Biology and Division of Life Sciences, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jihyun F Kim
- Department of Systems Biology and Division of Life Sciences, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea Strategic Initiative for Microbiomes in Agriculture and Food, Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Moleculo Long-Read Sequencing Facilitates Assembly and Genomic Binning from Complex Soil Metagenomes. mSystems 2016; 1:mSystems00045-16. [PMID: 27822530 PMCID: PMC5069762 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00045-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 05/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Soil microorganisms carry out key processes for life on our planet, including cycling of carbon and other nutrients and supporting growth of plants. However, there is poor molecular-level understanding of their functional roles in ecosystem stability and responses to environmental perturbations. This knowledge gap is largely due to the difficulty in culturing the majority of soil microbes. Thus, use of culture-independent approaches, such as metagenomics, promises the direct assessment of the functional potential of soil microbiomes. Soil is, however, a challenge for metagenomic assembly due to its high microbial diversity and variable evenness, resulting in low coverage and uneven sampling of microbial genomes. Despite increasingly large soil metagenome data volumes (>200 Gbp), the majority of the data do not assemble. Here, we used the cutting-edge approach of synthetic long-read sequencing technology (Moleculo) to assemble soil metagenome sequence data into long contigs and used the assemblies for binning of genomes. Soil metagenomics has been touted as the “grand challenge” for metagenomics, as the high microbial diversity and spatial heterogeneity of soils make them unamenable to current assembly platforms. Here, we aimed to improve soil metagenomic sequence assembly by applying the Moleculo synthetic long-read sequencing technology. In total, we obtained 267 Gbp of raw sequence data from a native prairie soil; these data included 109.7 Gbp of short-read data (~100 bp) from the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), an additional 87.7 Gbp of rapid-mode read data (~250 bp), plus 69.6 Gbp (>1.5 kbp) from Moleculo sequencing. The Moleculo data alone yielded over 5,600 reads of >10 kbp in length, and over 95% of the unassembled reads mapped to contigs of >1.5 kbp. Hybrid assembly of all data resulted in more than 10,000 contigs over 10 kbp in length. We mapped three replicate metatranscriptomes derived from the same parent soil to the Moleculo subassembly and found that 95% of the predicted genes, based on their assignments to Enzyme Commission (EC) numbers, were expressed. The Moleculo subassembly also enabled binning of >100 microbial genome bins. We obtained via direct binning the first complete genome, that of “Candidatus Pseudomonas sp. strain JKJ-1” from a native soil metagenome. By mapping metatranscriptome sequence reads back to the bins, we found that several bins corresponding to low-relative-abundance Acidobacteria were highly transcriptionally active, whereas bins corresponding to high-relative-abundance Verrucomicrobia were not. These results demonstrate that Moleculo sequencing provides a significant advance for resolving complex soil microbial communities. IMPORTANCE Soil microorganisms carry out key processes for life on our planet, including cycling of carbon and other nutrients and supporting growth of plants. However, there is poor molecular-level understanding of their functional roles in ecosystem stability and responses to environmental perturbations. This knowledge gap is largely due to the difficulty in culturing the majority of soil microbes. Thus, use of culture-independent approaches, such as metagenomics, promises the direct assessment of the functional potential of soil microbiomes. Soil is, however, a challenge for metagenomic assembly due to its high microbial diversity and variable evenness, resulting in low coverage and uneven sampling of microbial genomes. Despite increasingly large soil metagenome data volumes (>200 Gbp), the majority of the data do not assemble. Here, we used the cutting-edge approach of synthetic long-read sequencing technology (Moleculo) to assemble soil metagenome sequence data into long contigs and used the assemblies for binning of genomes. Author Video: An author video summary of this article is available.
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Renslow RS, Lindemann SR, Cole JK, Zhu Z, Anderton CR. Quantifying element incorporation in multispecies biofilms using nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry image analysis. Biointerphases 2016; 11:02A322. [PMID: 26872582 PMCID: PMC5848783 DOI: 10.1116/1.4941764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2015] [Revised: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 01/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Elucidating nutrient exchange in microbial communities is an important step in understanding the relationships between microbial systems and global biogeochemical cycles, but these communities are complex and the interspecies interactions that occur within them are not well understood. Phototrophic consortia are useful and relevant experimental systems to investigate such interactions as they are not only prevalent in the environment, but some are cultivable in vitro and amenable to controlled scientific experimentation. Nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) is a powerful, high spatial resolution tool capable of visualizing the metabolic activities of single cells within a biofilm, but quantitative analysis of the resulting data has typically been a manual process, resulting in a task that is both laborious and susceptible to human error. Here, the authors describe the creation and application of a semiautomated image-processing pipeline that can analyze NanoSIMS-generated data, applied to phototrophic biofilms as an example. The tool employs an image analysis process, which includes both elemental and morphological segmentation, producing a final segmented image that allows for discrimination between autotrophic and heterotrophic biomass, the detection of individual cyanobacterial filaments and heterotrophic cells, the quantification of isotopic incorporation of individual heterotrophic cells, and calculation of relevant population statistics. The authors demonstrate the functionality of the tool by using it to analyze the uptake of (15)N provided as either nitrate or ammonium through the unicyanobacterial consortium UCC-O and imaged via NanoSIMS. The authors found that the degree of (15)N incorporation by individual cells was highly variable when labeled with (15)NH4 (+), but much more even when biofilms were labeled with (15)NO3 (-). In the (15)NH4 (+)-amended biofilms, the heterotrophic distribution of (15)N incorporation was highly skewed, with a large population showing moderate (15)N incorporation and a small number of organisms displaying very high (15)N uptake. The results showed that analysis of NanoSIMS data can be performed in a way that allows for quantitation of the elemental uptake of individual cells, a technique necessary for advancing research into the metabolic networks that exist within biofilms with statistical analyses that are supported by automated, user-friendly processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan S Renslow
- Biological Sciences Division, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354
| | - Stephen R Lindemann
- Biological Sciences Division, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354
| | - Jessica K Cole
- Biological Sciences Division, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354
| | - Zihua Zhu
- Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354
| | - Christopher R Anderton
- Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354
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Turaev D, Rattei T. High definition for systems biology of microbial communities: metagenomics gets genome-centric and strain-resolved. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2016; 39:174-181. [PMID: 27115497 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2016.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2015] [Revised: 04/08/2016] [Accepted: 04/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The systems biology of microbial communities, organismal communities inhabiting all ecological niches on earth, has in recent years been strongly facilitated by the rapid development of experimental, sequencing and data analysis methods. Novel experimental approaches and binning methods in metagenomics render the semi-automatic reconstructions of near-complete genomes of uncultivable bacteria possible, while advances in high-resolution amplicon analysis allow for efficient and less biased taxonomic community characterization. This will also facilitate predictive modeling approaches, hitherto limited by the low resolution of metagenomic data. In this review, we pinpoint the most promising current developments in metagenomics. They facilitate microbial systems biology towards a systemic understanding of mechanisms in microbial communities with scopes of application in many areas of our daily life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitrij Turaev
- Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Thomas Rattei
- Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
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