Publications

4646

Abstract The ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) is a key enzyme in ammonia‐oxidizing archaea, which are abundant and ubiquitous in soil environments. The AMO belongs to the copper‐containing membrane monooxygenase (CuMMO) enzyme superfamily, which also contains particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO). Enzymes in the CuMMO superfamily are promiscuous, which results in co‐oxidation of alternative substrates. The phylogenetic and structural similarity between the pMMO and the archaeal AMO is well‐established, but there is surprisingly little information on the influence of methane and methanol on the archaeal AMO and terrestrial nitrification. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of methane and methanol on the soil ammonia‐oxidizing archaeon ‘ Candidatus Nitrosocosmicus franklandus C13’. We demonstrate that both methane and methanol are competitive inhibitors of the archaeal AMO. The inhibition constants ( K i ) for methane and methanol were 2.2 and 20 μM, respectively, concentrations which are environmentally relevant and orders of magnitude lower than those previously reported for ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a specific suite of proteins is upregulated and downregulated in ‘ Ca. Nitrosocosmicus franklandus C13’ in the presence of methane or methanol, which provides a foundation for future studies into metabolism of one‐carbon (C1) compounds in ammonia‐oxidizing archaea.

‘ Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ is an insect-transmitted bacterium associated with several plant diseases. In the Mediterranean Basin, ‘ Ca. L. solanacearum’ haplotype D is vectored by Bactericera trigonica and can severely infect carrot plants leading to abnormal growth phenotypes and significant yield losses. Insecticide applications are insufficient to suppress disease spread and damage, and additional means for disease control are needed. In the current study, we evaluated the resistance of 97 carrot accessions to the bacterial pathogen ‘ Ca. L. solanacearum’ and its associated symptoms. Accessions (Western and Asian types) were first screened in two commercial carrot fields. We found that Western type accessions were less prone to develop disease symptoms in both fields and were less frequently visited by the insect vector in one field. Overall, 22 Asian and five Western accessions with significantly lower disease incidence compared with the commercial cultivar were found. These accessions were then inoculated with ‘ Ca. L. solanacearum’ under controlled conditions and were assessed for disease incidence, insect oviposition, and bacterial relative titer. Five accessions (three Asian and two Western) had significantly lower disease incidence compared with the reference cultivar. Interestingly, disease incidence was not necessarily in line with insect oviposition or in planta bacterial titer, which may indicate that other, perhaps physiological, differences among the accessions may govern the susceptibility of plants to the disease. The resistant accessions found in this study could be used in future resistance breeding programs and to better understand the underlying mechanisms of resistance to ‘ Ca. L. solanacearum’.

“ Candidatus Parvarchaeales” microbes may represent a lineage uniquely distributed in extreme environments such as AMD and hot springs. However, little is known about the strategies and processes of how they adapted to these extreme environments.

The discovery of the new halophilic archaeon, Halorutilus salinus , representing a novel order, family, genus, and species within the class Halobacteria and phylum Euryarchaeota clearly enables insights into the microbial dark matter, expanding the current taxonomical knowledge of this group of archaea. The in-depth comparative genomic analysis performed on this new taxon revealed one of the first known examples of an Halobacteria representative coding the archaeal RuBisCO gene and with a streamlined genome, being ecologically successful in nature and explaining its previous non-isolation.

Thermophiles from extreme thermal environments have shown tremendous potential regarding ecological and biotechnological applications. Nevertheless, thermophilic cyanobacteria remain largely untapped and are rarely characterized. Herein, a polyphasic approach was used to characterize a thermophilic strain, PKUAC-SCTB231 (hereafter B231), isolated from a hot spring (pH 6.62, 55.5°C) in Zhonggu village, China. The analyses of 16S rRNA phylogeny, secondary structures of 16S-23S ITS and morphology strongly supported strain B231 as a novel genus within Trichocoleusaceae. Phylogenomic inference and three genome-based indices further verified the genus delineation. Based on the botanical code, the isolate is herein delineated as Trichothermofontia sichuanensis gen. et sp. nov., a genus closely related to a validly described genus Trichocoleus. In addition, our results suggest that Pinocchia currently classified to belong to the family Leptolyngbyaceae may require revision and assignment to the family Trichocoleusaceae. Furthermore, the complete genome of Trichothermofontia B231 facilitated the elucidation of the genetic basis regarding genes related to its carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM). The strain belongs to β-cyanobacteria according to its β-carboxysome shell protein and 1B form of Ribulose bisphosphate Carboxylase-Oxygenase (RubisCO). Compared to other thermophilic strains, strain B231contains a relatively low diversity of bicarbonate transporters (only BicA for HCO3− transport) but a higher abundance of different types of carbonic anhydrase (CA), β-CA (ccaA) and γ-CA (ccmM). The BCT1 transporter consistently possessed by freshwater cyanobacteria was absent in strain B231. Similar situation was occasionally observed in freshwater thermal Thermoleptolyngbya and Thermosynechococcus strains. Moreover, strain B231 shows a similar composition of carboxysome shell proteins (ccmK1-4, ccmL, -M, -N, -O, and -P) to mesophilic cyanobacteria, the diversity of which was higher than many thermophilic strains lacking at least one of the four ccmK genes. The genomic distribution of CCM-related genes suggests that the expression of some components is regulated as an operon and others in an independently controlled satellite locus. The current study also offers fundamental information for future taxogenomics, ecogenomics and geogenomic studies on distribution and significance of thermophilic cyanobacteria in the global ecosystem.