The complete genome sequence of Staphylothermus marinus reveals differences in sulfur metabolism among heterotrophic Crenarchaeota

Iain J. Anderson, Lakshmi Dharmarajan, Jason Rodriguez, Sean Hooper, Iris Porat, Luke E. Ulrich, James G. Elkins, Kostas Mavromatis, Hui Sun, Miriam Land, Alla Lapidus, Susan Lucas, Kerrie Barry, Harald Huber, Igor B. Zhulin, William B. Whitman, Biswarup Mukhopadhyay, Carl Woese, James Bristow, Nikos Kyrpides

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Staphylothermus marinus is an anaerobic, sulfur-reducing peptide fermenter of the archaeal phylum Crenarchaeota. It is the third heterotrophic, obligate sulfur reducing crenarchaeote to be sequenced and provides an opportunity for comparative analysis of the three genomes. Results: The 1.57 Mbp genome of the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeote Staphylothermus marinus has been completely sequenced. The main energy generating pathways likely involve 2-oxoacid:ferredoxin oxidoreductases and ADP-forming acetyl-CoA synthases. S. marinus possesses several enzymes not present in other crenarchaeotes including a sodium ion-translocating decarboxylase likely to be involved in amino acid degradation. S. marinus lacks sulfur-reducing enzymes present in the other two sulfur-reducing crenarchaeotes that have been sequenced - Thermofilum pendens and Hyperthermus butylicus. Instead it has three operons similar to the mbh and mbx operons of Pyrococcus furiosus, which may play a role in sulfur reduction and/or hydrogen production. The two marine organisms, S. marinus and H. butylicus, possess more sodium-dependent transporters than T. pendens and use symporters for potassium uptake while T. pendens uses an ATP-dependent potassium transporter. T. pendens has adapted to a nutrient-rich environment while H. butylicus is adapted to a nutrient-poor environment, and S. marinus lies between these two extremes. Conclusion: The three heterotrophic sulfur-reducing crenarchaeotes have adapted to their habitats, terrestrial vs. marine, via their transporter content, and they have also adapted to environments with differing levels of nutrients. Despite the fact that they all use sulfur as an electron acceptor, they are likely to have different pathways for sulfur reduction.

Original languageEnglish
Article number145
JournalBMC Genomics
Volume10
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2 2009

Funding

This work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy's Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research Program, and by the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344, and Los Alamos National Laboratory under contract No. DE-AC02-06NA25396. L. D., J. R., and B. M. were supported by a NASA Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology grant NNG05GP24G to B. M. I. P. and W. B. W. were supported by DOE contract number DE-FG02-97ER20269. L. E. U. and I. B. Z. were supported by grant number GM72285 from the National Institutes of Health. J. G. E. was supported by the DOE Genomes to Life program. M. L. was supported by the Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-000R22725.

FundersFunder number
Biological and Environmental Research program
National Institutes of Health
U.S. Department of EnergyDE-AC05-000R22725, DE-FG02-97ER20269
National Institute of General Medical SciencesR01GM072285
National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNNG05GP24G
University of California
Office of Science
Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryDE-AC52-07NA27344
Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryDE-AC02-05CH11231
Los Alamos National LaboratoryDE-AC02-06NA25396

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