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Title: Metabolic versatility of small archaea Micrarchaeota and Parvarchaeota

Journal Article · · The ISME Journal
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [1];  [7];  [5];  [1];  [8];  [8];  [9];  [3];  [10]
  1. Sun Yat-Sen Univ., Guangzhou, (China). State Key Lab. of Biocontrol, Guangdong Key Lab. of Plant Resources and College of Ecology and Evolution
  2. Univ. of Oviedo (Spain). Dept. of Functional Biology and Univ. Inst. of Biotechnology of Asturias (IUBA); Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Carl R. Woese Inst. for Genomic Biology
  3. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Marine Science and Marine Science Inst.
  4. National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico, Morelia (Mexico). Lab. of Microbiomics and National School of Higher Studies Morelia
  5. USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States)
  6. Yunnan Univ., Kunming (China). Yunnan Inst. of Microbiology
  7. National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico, Morelia (Mexico). Dept. of Ecological Genomics and Center for Genomic Sciences
  8. Univ. of Oviedo (Spain). Dept. of Functional Biology and Univ. Inst. of Biotechnology of Asturias (IUBA)
  9. Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid (Spain). Inst. of Catalysis
  10. South China Normal Univ., Guangzhou (China). School of Life Sciences

Small acidophilic archaea belonging to Micrarchaeota and Parvarchaeota phyla are known to physically interact with some Thermoplasmatales members in nature. However, due to a lack of cultivation and limited genomes on hand, their biodiversity, metabolisms, and physiologies remain largely unresolved. For this study, we obtained 39 genomes from acid mine drainage (AMD) and hot spring environments around the world. 16S rRNA gene based analyses revealed that Parvarchaeota were only detected in AMD and hot spring habitats, while Micrarchaeota were also detected in others including soil, peat, hypersaline mat, and freshwater, suggesting a considerable higher diversity and broader than expected habitat distribution for this phylum. Despite their small genomes (0.64-1.08 Mb), these archaea may contribute to carbon and nitrogen cycling by degrading multiple saccharides and proteins, and produce ATP via aerobic respiration and fermentation. Additionally, we identified several syntenic genes with homology to those involved in iron oxidation in six Parvarchae ota genomes, suggesting their potential role in iron cycling. However, both phyla lack biosynthetic pathways for amino acids and nucleotides, suggesting that they likely scavenge these biomolecules from the environment and/or other community members. Moreover, low-oxygen enrichments in laboratory confirmed our speculation that both phyla are microaerobic/anaerobic, based on several specific genes identified in them. Furthermore, phylogenetic analyses provide insights into the close evolutionary history of energy related functionalities between both phyla with Thermoplasmatales. These results expand our understanding of these elusive archaea by revealing their involvement in carbon, nitrogen, and iron cycling, and suggest their potential interactions with Thermoplasmatales on genomic scale.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI); China Univ. of Geosciences, Wuhan (China); Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States); Univ. of Konstanz (Germany); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico, Morelia (Mexico)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 31600101; U1201233; 31570500; PAPIIT IA210617
OSTI ID:
1434028
Journal Information:
The ISME Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 3; Related Information: © 2017 The Author(s) 2017, under exclusive licence to Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature.; ISSN 1751-7362
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 56 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Sulfobacillus thermotolerans: new insights into resistance and metabolic capacities of acidophilic chemolithotrophs journal October 2019
Genomic diversity, lifestyles and evolutionary origins of DPANN archaea journal January 2019
On the Origin of Isoprenoid Biosynthesis journal June 2018
Conversion of Mevalonate 3-Kinase into 5-Phosphomevalonate 3-Kinase by Single Amino Acid Mutations journal March 2019
Contrasting Biogeographic Patterns of Bacterial and Archaeal Diversity in the Top- and Subsoils of Temperate Grasslands journal October 2019
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Long-Term N Fertilization Decreased Diversity and Altered the Composition of Soil Bacterial and Archaeal Communities journal September 2019
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