Metagenome of a Versatile Chemolithoautotroph from Expanding Oceanic Dead Zones

Journal Article · Wed Jul 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1175309· OSTI ID:983117

Walsh, David A; Zaikova, Elena; Howes, Charles L; Song, Young; Wright, Jody; Tringe, Susannah G; Tortell, Philippe D; Hallam, Steven J

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), also known as oceanic"dead zones", are widespread oceanographic features currently expanding due to global warming and coastal eutrophication. Although inhospitable to metazoan life, OMZs support a thriving but cryptic microbiota whose combined metabolic activity is intimately connected to nutrient and trace gas cycling within the global ocean. Here we report time-resolved metagenomic analyses of a ubiquitous and abundant but uncultivated OMZ microbe (SUP05) closely related to chemoautotrophic gill symbionts of deep-sea clams and mussels. The SUP05 metagenome harbors a versatile repertoire of genes mediating autotrophic carbon assimilation, sulfur-oxidation and nitrate respiration responsive to a wide range of water column redox states. Thus, SUP05 plays integral roles in shaping nutrient and energy flow within oxygen-deficient oceanic waters via carbon sequestration, sulfide detoxification and biological nitrogen loss with important implications for marine productivity and atmospheric greenhouse control.

• Research Organization: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: Genomics Division
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 983117
• Report Number(s): LBNL-3272E
• Journal Information: Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 5952 Vol. 326; ISSN 1095-9203; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Bacterial
Biomass
British Columbia
CARBON
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
CLAMS
Carbon/metabolism
Chemoautotrophic Growth
DETOXIFICATION
EUTROPHICATION
Ecosystem
Energy Metabolism
GENES
GILLS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
GREENHOUSE GASES
Gammaproteobacteria/genetics
Gammaproteobacteria/metabolism
Gammaproteobacteria/physiology
Genes
Genome
MUSSELS
Metagenome
Molecular Sequence Data
NITRATES
NITROGEN
NUTRIENTS
Nitrates/metabolism
OXYGEN
Oxidation-Reduction
Oxygen/analysis
PRODUCTIVITY
Pacific Ocean
Phylogeny
RESPIRATION
SULFIDES
Seasons
Seawater/chemistry
Seawater/microbiology
Sulfur/metabolism
Symbiosis
WATER
rRNA