International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Metabolic Adaptation to Sulfur of Hyperthermophilic Palaeococcus pacificus DY20341T from Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Sediments Xiang Zeng 1, Xiaobo Zhang 1,2 and Zongze Shao 1,* 1 Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, No.178 Daxue Road, Xiamen 361005, China;
[email protected] (X.Z.);
[email protected] (X.Z.) 2 School of public health, Xinjiang Medical University, No.393 Xinyi Road, Urumchi 830011, China * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +86-592-2195321 Received: 4 December 2019; Accepted: 29 December 2019; Published: 6 January 2020 Abstract: The hyperthermo-piezophilic archaeon Palaeococcus pacificus DY20341T, isolated from East Pacific hydrothermal sediments, can utilize elemental sulfur as a terminal acceptor to simulate growth. To gain insight into sulfur metabolism, we performed a genomic and transcriptional analysis of Pa. pacificus DY20341T with/without elemental sulfur as an electron acceptor. In the 2001 protein-coding sequences of the genome, transcriptomic analysis showed that 108 genes increased (by up to 75.1 fold) and 336 genes decreased (by up to 13.9 fold) in the presence of elemental sulfur. Palaeococcus pacificus cultured with elemental sulfur promoted the following: the induction of membrane-bound hydrogenase (MBX), NADH:polysulfide oxidoreductase (NPSOR), NAD(P)H sulfur oxidoreductase (Nsr), sulfide dehydrogenase (SuDH), connected to the sulfur-reducing process, the upregulation of iron and nickel/cobalt transfer, iron–sulfur cluster-carrying proteins (NBP35), and some iron–sulfur cluster-containing proteins (SipA, SAM, CobQ, etc.). The accumulation of metal ions might further impact on regulators, e.g., SurR and TrmB.