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Non-photosynthetic lineages sibling to Cyanobacteria associate with eukaryotes in the open ocean

Journal Article · · Current Biology
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [2];  [1]
  1. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA (United States); GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany)
  2. University of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  3. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany)
  4. USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
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Margulisbacteria are elusive uncultivated bacteria that have illuminated evolutionary transitions in the progenitor of Cyanobacteria, the latter being a critically important phylum that underpins oxygenic photosynthesis. The non-photosynthetic Margulisbacteria were discovered in a sulfidic spring and later in other habitats. Currently, this candidate phylum partitions into the Riflemargulisbacteria, primarily from sediments and groundwater, the Termititenax from insect gut microbiomes, and the Marinamargulisbacteria, from marine samples. We found that Marinamargulisbacteria amplicons were unusually distributed in size-fractionated samples from the sunlit photic and dark twilight zones of the ocean. Further, sequencing of wild marine protists rendered genomic information for distinct marinamargulisbacterial clades co-associated with uncultivated, non-photosynthetic Stramenopila and Opisthokonta protists. Phylogenomic analyses combining these data and available metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and single-amplified genomes (SAGs) from sorted bacteria revealed new Marinamargulisbacteria lineages. The lineages delineate by their environment, forming clades comprising freshwater, marine pelagic, or sediment/hypoxic taxa. In conclusion, the remarkable diversity of Margulisbacteria indicates success in colonizing various habitats, potentially in a conserved strategy involving eukaryotic cells.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
2551785
Journal Information:
Current Biology, Journal Name: Current Biology Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 34; ISSN 0960-9822
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (10)

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A new view of the tree of life journal April 2016
Genome analyses of uncultured TG2/ZB3 bacteria in ‘Margulisbacteria’ specifically attached to ectosymbiotic spirochetes of protists in the termite gut journal October 2018
Hydrogen-based metabolism as an ancestral trait in lineages sibling to the Cyanobacteria journal January 2019
Two intracellular and cell type-specific bacterial symbionts in the placozoan Trichoplax H2 journal June 2019
The microbiome of a bacterivorous marine choanoflagellate contains a resource-demanding obligate bacterial associate journal August 2022
Choanoflagellates alongside diverse uncultured predatory protists consume the abundant open-ocean cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus journal June 2023
Regional and oyster microenvironmental scale heterogeneity in the Pacific oyster bacterial community journal March 2020
Bacterial Diversity and Sulfur Cycling in a Mesophilic Sulfide-Rich Spring journal September 2003

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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES