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Genomics of the proteorhodopsin-containing marine flavobacterium Dokdonia sp. strain MED134.

ABSTRACT: Proteorhodopsin phototrophy is expected to have considerable impact on the ecology and biogeochemical roles of marine bacteria. However, the genetic features contributing to the success of proteorhodopsin-containing bacteria remain largely unknown. We investigated the genome of Dokdonia sp. strain MED134 (Bacteroidetes) for features potentially explaining its ability to grow better in light than darkness. MED134 has a relatively high number of peptidases, suggesting that amino acids are the main carbon and nitrogen sources. In addition, MED134 shares with other environmental genomes a reduction in gene copies at the expense of important ones, like membrane transporters, which might be compensated by the presence of the proteorhodopsin gene. The genome analyses suggest Dokdonia sp. MED134 is able to respond to light at least partly due to the presence of a strong flavobacterial consensus promoter sequence for the proteorhodopsin gene. Moreover, Dokdonia sp. MED134 has a complete set of anaplerotic enzymes likely to play a role in the adaptation of the carbon anabolism to the different sources of energy it can use, including light or various organic matter compounds. In addition to promoting growth, proteorhodopsin phototrophy could provide energy for the degradation of complex or recalcitrant organic matter, survival during periods of low nutrients, or uptake of amino acids and peptides at low concentrations. Our analysis suggests that the ability to harness light potentially makes MED134 less dependent on the amount and quality of organic matter or other nutrients. The genomic features reported here may well be among the keys to a successful photoheterotrophic lifestyle.

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3233072 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Genomics of the proteorhodopsin-containing marine flavobacterium Dokdonia sp. strain MED134.

González José M JM Pinhassi Jarone J Fernández-Gómez Beatriz B Coll-Lladó Montserrat M González-Velázquez Mónica M Puigbò Pere P Jaenicke Sebastian S Gómez-Consarnau Laura L Fernàndez-Guerra Antoni A Goesmann Alexander A Pedrós-Alió Carlos C

Applied and environmental microbiology 20111014 24

Proteorhodopsin phototrophy is expected to have considerable impact on the ecology and biogeochemical roles of marine bacteria. However, the genetic features contributing to the success of proteorhodopsin-containing bacteria remain largely unknown. We investigated the genome of Dokdonia sp. strain MED134 (Bacteroidetes) for features potentially explaining its ability to grow better in light than darkness. MED134 has a relatively high number of peptidases, suggesting that amino acids are the main ...[more]

PMID: 22003006

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Project description:Proteorhodopsin (PR), a photoactive proton pump containing retinal, is present in approximately half of all bacteria in the ocean, but its physiological role is still unclear, since very few strains carrying the PR gene have been cultured. The aim of this work was to characterize PR diversity in a North Sea water sample, cultivate a strain representative of North Sea PR clusters, and study the effects of light and carbon concentration on the expression of the PR gene. A total of 117 PR sequences, of which 101 were unique, were obtained from a clone library of PCR-amplified PR gene fragments. Of the North Sea PRs, 97% were green light absorbing, as inferred from the amino acid at position 105; 67% of the PR protein fragments showed closest similarity to PRs from Alphaproteobacteria, 4% showed closest similarity to PRs from Gammaproteobacteria, and 29% showed closest similarity to PRs from "Bacteroidetes"/Flavobacteria. The dominant PR cluster (comprising 18% of all PRs) showed a high degree of similarity to the PR from the cultivated Roseobacter strain HTCC2255. The relative abundances of the North Sea PR clusters were confirmed by quantitative PCR. They were detected in metagenomic fragments from coastal oceans worldwide with various degrees of abundance. Several hundred bacterial strains from the North Sea water sample were cultivated on oligocarbophilic media. By screening with degenerate primers, two strains carrying the PR gene were identified. Their 16S rRNA gene sequences were identical and affiliated with a Bacteroidetes subcluster from the North Sea. The PR sequence of isolate PRO95 was completed by chromosomal walking. It was 76% identical to that of Dokdonia donghaensis MED134 and was functional, as indicated by the signature amino acids. PRO95 expressed its PR gene in liquid media containing between 9.7 and 121 mM carbon, both in the light and in the dark. Growth was not enhanced by light. Thus, the detection of the physiological role of PR may require more sensitive methods.

Dataset Information

Genomics of the proteorhodopsin-containing marine flavobacterium Dokdonia sp. strain MED134.

Publications

Genomics of the proteorhodopsin-containing marine flavobacterium Dokdonia sp. strain MED134.

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