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Title: Microbial communities of Auka hydrothermal sediments shed light on vent biogeography and the evolutionary history of thermophily

Journal Article · · The ISME Journal

Abstract Hydrothermal vents have been key to our understanding of the limits of life, and the metabolic and phylogenetic diversity of thermophilic organisms. Here we used environmental metagenomics combined with analysis of physicochemical data and 16S rRNA gene amplicons to characterize the sediment-hosted microorganisms at the recently discovered Auka vents in the Gulf of California. We recovered 325 metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs) representing 54 phyla, over 30% of those currently known, showing the microbial community in Auka hydrothermal sediments is highly diverse. 16S rRNA gene amplicon screening of 224 sediment samples across the vent field indicates that the MAGs retrieved from a single site are representative of the microbial community in the vent field sediments. Metabolic reconstruction of a vent-specific, deeply branching clade within the Desulfobacterota suggests these organisms metabolize sulfur using novel octaheme cytochrome-c proteins related to hydroxylamine oxidoreductase. Community-wide comparison between Auka MAGs and MAGs from Guaymas Basin revealed a remarkable 20% species-level overlap, suggestive of long-distance species transfer over 400 km and subsequent sediment colonization. Optimal growth temperature prediction on the Auka MAGs, and thousands of reference genomes, shows that thermophily is a trait that has evolved frequently. Taken together, our Auka vent field results offer new perspectives on our understanding of hydrothermal vent microbiology.

Research Organization:
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
John Templeton Foundation; Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016469
OSTI ID:
1859826
Journal Information:
The ISME Journal, Journal Name: The ISME Journal Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 16; ISSN 1751-7362
Publisher:
Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

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