Metabolic traits of an uncultured archaeal lineage -MSBL1- from brine pools of the Red Sea

Mwirichia, Romano; Álam, Intikhab; Rashid, Mamoon; Vinu, Manikandan; Ba-Alawi, Wail; Kamau, Allan; Ngugi, David Kamanda; Göker, Markus; Klenk, Hans‐Peter; Bajic, Vladimir B.; Stingl, Ulrich

doi:10.1038/srep19181

Cited by 66 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…The rest of archaea distributed in lineages typically present in hypersaline environments, e.g. the Methanonatronoarchaeia (20,21) or Candidate Divison MSBL1, thought to encompass methanogens (22) and/or sugar-fermentors (23), but also other archaeal groups not specifically associated with salty systems. These included Thermoplasmata and Archaeoglobi within 45 Euryarchaeota, Woesearchaeota and other lineages (Aenigmarchaeota, Altiarchaeales) usually grouped as DPANN (24)(25)(26) and Thaumarchaeota and Crenarchaeota (Sulfolobales) within the TACK/Proteoarchaeota (27) ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hyperdiverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area

Belilla

Moreira

Jardillier

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Microbial life has adapted to various individual extreme conditions; yet, organisms simultaneously adapted to low pH, high salt and high temperature are unknown. We combined environmental 16S/18S rRNA-gene metabarcoding, cultural approaches, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, scanning electron microscopy and chemical analyses to study samples along such 25 unique polyextreme gradients in the Dallol-Danakil area (Ethiopia). We identify two physicochemical barriers to life in the presence of surface liquid water defined by high chaotropicity-low water activity in Mg 2+ /Ca 2+ -dominated brines and hyperacidity-salt combinations. When detected, life was dominated by highly diverse ultrasmall archaea widely distributed across phyla with and without previously known hyperhalophilic members. We detect 30 active silica encrustment/fossilization of cells but also abiotic biomorphs of varied chemistry, raising warnings for the interpretation of morphological biosignatures on Earth and beyond. One Sentence Summary:The absence of life from some polyextreme sites in the presence of liquid surface water on Earth 35 helps to circumscribe habitability Belilla et al. 2 Main Text:Microbial life has adapted to so-called extreme values of temperature, pH or salinity, but also to 5 several polyextreme, e.g. hot acidic or salty alkaline, ecosystems (1, 2). However, organisms adapted simultaneously to low pH and high salt, and eventually also high temperature, are not known (1). Are molecular adaptations to those combinations incompatible or (hot) acidic hypersaline environments simply rare and unexplored? The Dallol geothermal dome and its surroundings (Danakil Depression, Afar, Ethiopia) allow to address this question by offering 10 unique polyextreme gradients combining high salt content (20 to >50%; either Mg 2+ /Ca 2+ or Na + (/Fe 2+/3+ )-rich), high temperature (25-110°C) and low pH (≤-1.5 to 6). Dallol is an up-lifted (~40 m) dome structure located in the North of the Danakil depression (~120 m below-sea-level), a 200 km-long basin within the Afar rift, at the triple junction between the Nubian, Somalian and Arabian Plates (3). Lying only 30 km north of the hypersaline, hydrothermally-influenced, Lake 15 Assale (Karum) and the Erta Ale volcanic range, Dallol does not display volcanic outcrops but intense degassing and hydrothermal activity. These activities are observed on the salt dome and the adjacent Black Mountain and Yellow Lake (Gaet'Ale) areas (3, 4) ( Fig. 1a-b). Gas and fluid isotopic measurements indicate that meteoritic waters, notably infiltrating from the high Ethiopian plateau (>2,500 m), interact with an underlying geothermal reservoir (280-370°C) (4, 20 5). Further interaction of those fluids with the km-thick marine evaporites filling the Danakil depression results in unique combinations of polyextreme conditions and salt chemistries (3,4,6, 7), which have led some authors consider Dallol as a Mars analog (8).Here, we use environmental 16S/18S rRNA-gene metabarcoding, cultural approaches, fluorescence-activa...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hyperdiverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area

Belilla

Moreira

Jardillier

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…The replacement of Salinibacter and Halorubrum by other dominant microbes suggests a taxonomic partitioning of the community in these samples. Members of the archaeal MSBL1 have been detected in sediments of coastal salterns (López-López et al, 2010) and in the deep sea brine pools, some of them with very high concentrations of MgCl 2 (Siam et al, 2012;Yakimov et al, 2013;Mwirichia et al, 2016). It should be mentioned that in samples dominated by Salinibacter, the archaeal Halorubrum is also the dominating genus.…”

Section: Characterization Of the Prokaryotic Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Prokaryotic and viral community structure in the singular chaotropic salt lake Salar de Uyuni

Ramos‐Barbero

Martínez

Almansa

et al. 2019

Environmental Microbiology

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Summary Salar de Uyuni (SdU) is the largest hypersaline salt flat and the highest lithium reservoir on Earth. In addition to extreme temperatures and high UV irradiance, SdU has high concentrations of chaotropic salts which can be important factors in controlling microbial diversity. Here, for the first time we characterize the viral diversity of this hypersaline environment during the two seasons, as well as the physicochemical characteristics and the prokaryotic communities of the analysed samples. Most of the selected samples showed a peculiar physicochemical composition and prokaryotic diversity, mostly different from each other even for samples from locations in close proximity or the same season. In contrast to most hypersaline systems Bacteria frequently outnumbered Archaea. Furthermore, an outstanding percentage of members of Salinibacter sp., likely a species different from the cosmopolitan Salinibacter ruber, was obtained in most of the samples. Viral communities displayed the morphologies normally found in hypersaline environments. Two seasonal samples were chosen for a detailed metagenomic analysis of the viral assemblage. Both viral communities shared common sequences but were dominated by sample‐specific viruses, mirroring the differences also observed in physicochemical and prokaryotic community composition. These metaviromes were distinct from those detected in other hypersaline systems analysed to date.

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“…In addition, species in unclassified Euryarchaeota such as candidate divison MSBL1 archaeon seems to have very small genomes, most of which tend to lack PhaCs, losing PhaC accumulation ability. Since the uncultured archaeal lineage MSBL1 strains are from brine pool, they are also adapted to hypersaline environment [29]. Thus, PHA accumulation might not be necessary for saline environment adaptation and survival of halophilic archaea.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domain-centric dissection and classification of prokaryotic poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) synthases

Liu

Zhu

Yang

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Although many enzymes and multiple pathways involve in Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) synthesis, PHA synthases play a determinant role in the process, which include three subunits of PhaC, PhaE, and PhaR. Currently, PHA synthases are categorized into four classes according to its primary sequences, substrate specificity, and subunit composition. However, theoretical analysis of PHA synthases from the domain perspective has not been performed. In this study, we dissected PHA synthases thoroughly through analysis of domain organization. Both referenced bacterial and archaeal proteomes were then screened for the presence and absence of different PHA synthases along NCBI taxonomy ID-based phylogenetic tree. In addition, sequences annotated as bacterial and archaeal PhaCs in UniProt database were also analyzed for domain organizations and interactions. In sum, the in-silico study provided a better understanding of the domain features of PHA synthases in prokaryotes, which also assisted in the production of PHA polymers with optimized chemical properties.

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Metabolic traits of an uncultured archaeal lineage -MSBL1- from brine pools of the Red Sea

Cited by 66 publications

References 74 publications

Hyperdiverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area

Hyperdiverse archaea near life limits at the polyextreme geothermal Dallol area

Prokaryotic and viral community structure in the singular chaotropic salt lake Salar de Uyuni

Domain-centric dissection and classification of prokaryotic poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) synthases

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