Evidence for Horizontal Gene Transfer of Anaerobic Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenases
- Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). Inst. of Marine and Environmental Technology; Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology; DOE/OSTI
- Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow (Russian Federation). Winogradsky Inst. of Microbiology
- Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Geophysical Sciences
- USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). Inst. of Marine and Environmental Technology; Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology
Carbon monoxide (CO) is commonly known as a toxic gas, yet both cultivation studies and emerging genome sequences of bacteria and archaea establish that CO is a widely utilized microbial growth substrate. In this study, we determined the prevalence of anaerobic carbon monoxide dehydrogenases ([Ni,Fe]-CODHs) in currently available genomic sequence databases. Currently, 185 out of 2887, or 6% of sequenced bacterial and archaeal genomes possess at least one gene encoding [Ni,Fe]-CODH, the key enzyme for anaerobic CO utilization. Many genomes encode multiple copies of [Ni,Fe]-CODH genes whose functions and regulation are correlated with their associated gene clusters. The phylogenetic analysis of this extended protein family revealed six distinct clades; many clades consisted of [Ni,Fe]- CODHs that were encoded by microbes from disparate phylogenetic lineages, based on 16S rRNA sequences, and widely ranging physiology.To more clearly define if the branching patterns observed in the [Ni,Fe]-CODH trees are due to functional conservation vs. evolutionary lineage, the genomic context of the [Ni,Fe]-CODH gene clusters was examined, and superimposed on the phylogenetic trees. On the whole, there was a correlation between genomic contexts and the tree topology, but several functionally similar [Ni,Fe]-CODHs were found in different clades. In addition, some distantly related organisms have similar [Ni,Fe]-CODH genes. Thermosinus carboxydivorans was used to observe horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of [Ni,Fe]-CODH gene clusters by applying Kullback–Leibler divergence analysis methods. Divergent tetranucleotide frequency and codon usage showed that the gene cluster of T. carboxydivorans that encodes a [Ni,Fe]-CODH and an energyconverting hydrogenase is dissimilar to its whole genome but is similar to the genome of the phylogenetically distant Firmicute, Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans. These results imply that T carboxydivorans acquired this gene cluster via HGT from a relative of C. hydrogenoformans.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science Division
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1628055
- Journal Information:
- Frontiers in Microbiology, Journal Name: Frontiers in Microbiology Vol. 3; ISSN 1664-302X
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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