Xylan utilization by haloarchaea-nanohaloarchaea associations

ABSTRACT: In hypersaline brines, biodegradation of recalcitrant plant polymers can be inhibited by salt-induced microbial stress and/or caused by inadequate metabolic capabilities of extremely halophilic microbes. Therefore, woody materials can be well-preserved even in NaCl brines that are less biologically hostile than most other brines. Here, we considered whether the nanohaloarchaea, that live alongside (the related) haloarchaea, ever partake in the degradation of xylan, a major hemicellulose component of wood. Samples were taken from natural evaporitic brines and anthropogenic solar salterns located in various parts of Europe and Asia. We recently demonstrated that nanohaloarchaeon Ca. Nanohalobium constans lives as an ectosymbiont associated with the chitinolytic haloarchaeon Halomicrobium. Here, we describe an extremely halophilic xylan-degrading consortium with three members, where nanohaloarchaea act as ectosymbionts of Haloferax lucertensis, which in turn acts as a scavenger of xylan-degradation products, produced by a primary xylan hydrolytic Halorhabdus species. The two corresponding binary associations of nanohaloarchaea, Candidatus Nanohalococcus occultus SVXNc and Candidatus Nanohalovita haloferacivicina BNXNv and their hosts were obtained, stably cultivated and characterized. In contrast to the previously described association of chitinolytic haloarchaeon Halomicrobium and its amylolytic symbiont Ca. Nanohalobium, the host haloarchaea within the xylan-degrading consortium could metabolize α-glucans (glycogen and starch), and, thus, obtained no obvious trophic benefit from ectosymbionts. The current study has broadened the range of culturable ectosymbiontic nanohaloarchaea and demonstrates that they are an important ecophysiological component of polysaccharide-degrading halophilic microbial communities and can be readily isolated in binary co-cultures by using the appropriate enrichment strategy.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive HF

ORGANISM(S): Haloferax Lucentense Nanohaloarchaea Archaeon

SUBMITTER: Concha Gil  

LAB HEAD: Michail M. Yakimov

PROVIDER: PXD036877 | Pride | 2023-10-24

REPOSITORIES: Pride