Genomic evidence of rapid, global-scale gene flow in a Sulfolobus species

Abstract

Local populations of Sulfolobus islandicus diverge genetically with geographical separation, and this has been attributed to restricted transfer of propagules imposed by the unfavorable spatial distribution of acidic geothermal habitat. We tested the generality of genetic divergence with distance in Sulfolobus species by analyzing genomes of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius drawn from three populations separated by more than 8000 km. In sharp contrast to S. islandicus, the geographically diverse S. acidocaldarius genomes proved to be nearly identical. We could not link the difference in genome conservation between the two species to a corresponding difference in genome stability or ecological factors affecting propagule dispersal. The results provide the first evidence that genetic isolation of local populations does not result primarily from properties intrinsic to Sulfolobus and the severe discontinuity of its geothermal habitat, but varies with species, and thus may reflect biotic interactions that act after propagule dispersal.

Structure and function of the adhesive type IV pilus of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

“…In close vicinity to aapB in S. solfataricus , a transposase is present, suggesting that previously the aap pilus might have been present in all Sulfolobaceae . Due to transposition events that occur in species other than S. acidocaldarius more frequently (Mao and Grogan, ), the aap gene cluster was split up. It is intriguing to correlate these findings with the natural habitat for different species of Sulfolobales .…”

The Confluence of Heavy Metal Biooxidation and Heavy Metal Resistance: Implications for Bioleaching by Extreme Thermoacidophiles

“…It is not clear whether S. tokodaii is motile, but the genome contains the archaellum operon found in S. acidocaldarius, indicating S. tokodaii is likely motile [65]. To date, published genomes exist for S. acidocaldarius (98-3, N8, Ron12/I, SUSAZ), S. solfataricus (P2, 98/2), S. tokodaii (7), Sulfolobus Type II, and a myriad of S. islandicus strains [20,22,28,[66][67][68][69][70][71].…”

Genome Sequencing of Sulfolobus sp. A20 from Costa Rica and Comparative Analyses of the Putative Pathways of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Metabolism in Various Sulfolobus Strains

“…Known Sulfolobus species were mostly isolated from the Northern hemisphere (Brock et al, 1972; Grogan et al, 1990; Huber and Stetter, 1991; Jan et al, 1999; Suzuki et al, 2002; Xiang et al, 2003; Guo et al, 2011; Mao and Grogan, 2012; Zuo et al, 2015). These Sulfolobus isolates have been classified into nine species.…”

“…These include a Sulfolobus tokodaii strain (str.7) (Kawarabayasi et al, 2001), three Sulfolobus solfataricus strains (She et al, 2001; McCarthy et al, 2015), four Sulfolobus acidocaldarius strains (Chen et al, 2005; Mao and Grogan, 2012), and nine Sulfolobus islandicus strains (Reno et al, 2009; Guo et al, 2011; Zhang et al, 2013). Genomic comparisons show that Sulfolobus species are genetically diverged in relation to their geographic distance (Whitaker et al, 2003; Reno et al, 2009).…”