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16S rRNA Phylogenetic Investigation of the Candidate Division "Korarchaeota" The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Auchtung, T. A., C. D. Takacs-Vesbach, and C. M. Cavanaugh. 2006. “16S rRNA Phylogenetic Investigation of the Candidate Division ‘Korarchaeota.’” Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72 (7) (July 1): 5077–5082. doi:10.1128/aem.00052-06. Published Version doi:10.1128/AEM.00052-06 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:14368993 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, July 2006, p. 5077–5082 Vol. 72, No. 7 0099-2240/06/$08.00ϩ0 doi:10.1128/AEM.00052-06 Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. 16S rRNA Phylogenetic Investigation of the Candidate Division “Korarchaeota” Thomas A. Auchtung,1 Cristina D. Takacs-Vesbach,2 and Colleen M. Cavanaugh1* Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138,1 and Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 871312 Received 9 January 2006/Accepted 15 April 2006 The environmental distribution and phylogeny of “Korarchaeota,” a proposed ancient archaeal division, was investigated by using the 16S rRNA gene framework. Korarchaeota-specific primers were designed based on previously published sequences and used to screen a variety of environments. Korarchaeota 16S rRNA genes were amplified exclusively from high temperature Yellowstone National Park hot springs and a 9°N East Pacific Downloaded from Rise deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Phylogenetic analyses of these and all available sequences suggest that Korarchaeota exhibit a high level of endemicity. In 1994, 16S rRNA gene sequences PCR amplified from for Korarchaeota. Samples, collected from the 9°N East Pacific Yellowstone National Park hot spring Obsidian Pool were Rise (EPR) 2,500-m-deep hydrothermal field in December reported (3). These sequences were hypothesized to belong to 2002 using DSV Alvin on R/V Atlantis cruise AT-07, Leg 26, an ancient division, the “Korarchaeota,” that diverged from the were from the following environments: the dark red surface of http://aem.asm.org/ Archaea lineage before the separation of Crenarchaeota and a black smoker sulfide chimney through which 370°C fluid Euryarchaeota (2). Other deeply branching clades have since flowed (P-vent; Dive 3851), a basalt settlement piece (FRIE been proposed, including the Nanoarchaeota and “Ancient Ar- 16.2) left by an active sulfide chimney for 1 week (Tica vent; chaeal Group,” although phylogenetic support for any group Dives 3843 and 3849), and a 0.45-m-pore-size, 142-mm-diam- having a basal position is not strong (2, 4, 29). What little is eter mixed cellulose ester filter (Millipore) and a 1-m-pore-size, known about Korarchaeota comes from detection of their 16S 142-mm-diameter Petex prefilter (Sefar) through which 200 liters rRNA genes during environmental diversity surveys that used of water 1 m peripheral to a hydrothermal vent was filtered by “universal” Archaea primers. Nineteen such sequences which using a McLane Research Laboratories, Inc., pump in situ were believed to be in the Korarchaeota clade have been pub- (Tica vent). On board ship, sulfide chimney surfaces were on March 14, 2015 by guest lished (3, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22–24, 28, 31, 32). These genes were scraped into 2-ml freezer tubes and dropped in liquid nitrogen, PCR amplified from fluid, sediment, sulfide chimneys, or mi- basalt pieces were placed in 50-ml polypropylene tubes, and crobial mats of high-temperature hot springs or submarine filters were wrapped in aluminum foil. Samples were stored on vents. Although attempts to grow Korarchaeota in pure culture board at Ϫ70°C, transported on dry ice, and then stored at have not been successful, Korarchaeota cells of the pJP27 phylo- Ϫ80°C until use. To extract DNA from sulfide chimney sam- type originally detected in Obsidian Pool have now been highly ples, the Bio 101 FastDNA SPIN kit for soil was used accord- enriched, and their (meta)genome is being sequenced (K. O. ing to the manufacturer’s instructions. DNA was extracted Stetter, J. G. Elkins, M. Keller, and the JGI-DOE [http://www.jgi from basalt and filters (in 50-ml polypropylene tubes) by the .doe.gov/sequencing/why/CSP2006/korarchaeota.html]). addition of sucrose-lysis buffer (10 ml), lysozyme, proteinase K, To further assess their diversity and distribution, we de- signed Korarchaeota-specific primers based on published se- sodium dodecyl sulfate, and phenol-chloroform according to quences and used them to PCR amplify 16S rRNA genes from the method of Gordon and Giovannoni (11) and then ethanol deep-sea hydrothermal vents, various Yellowstone National precipitated (20) and resuspended in water. Park hydrothermal features, and a number of nonhydrother- A number of hydrothermal features in Yellowstone National mal environments. PCR amplification products were cloned Park were also screened for Korarchaeota. Samples were col- and sequenced, and the phylogeny of these 16S rRNA genes, lected from 19 sites in summer 2003 and 17 sites in summer as well as those previously named Korarchaeota or sharing 2004 as part of a microbial inventory being conducted of Yel- identity to those previously named as such, was inferred. The lowstone thermal features. Sediment, sinter, mud, and micro- relationships among Korarchaeota were compared to the prop- bial mats were mixed 1:1 in sucrose-lysis buffer, and hydrother- erties of the environments from which they were amplified to mal fluid was mixed 2:1 with RNAlater (Ambion) on site and gain insights into basic physiological properties of this enig- then stored at Ϫ80°C as soon as possible. DNA was extracted matic group. from sediment, sinter, and mud by using a Bio 101 FastDNA Diverse deep-sea hydrothermal vent niches were screened SPIN kit for soil. For extracting microbial mat DNA, 50 lof thawed sample was mixed with 100 l of CTAB buffer (1% cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, 0.75 M NaCl, 50 mM Tris * Corresponding author. Mailing address: Harvard University, Bio- [pH 8], 10 mM EDTA) and then processed like the deep-sea logical Laboratories 4083, 16 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: (617) 495-2177. Fax: (617) 496-6933. E-mail: cavanaug@fas hydrothermal vent basalt and filters. For fluid samples, 2-ml .harvard.edu. portions were centrifuged 10 min at 16,000 ϫ g, all but 50 lof 5077 5078 AUCHTUNG ET AL. APPL.ENVIRON.MICROBIOL. supernatant was removed, and then the samples were pro- (Bac27F [26]-Univ1492R) primers yielded at least one cor- cessed as described for microbial mat samples. rectly sized band for all samples, suggesting that samples that Since Korarchaeota-specific primers had not previously been did not yield products in Korarchaeota-specific PCR did not fail used to screen natural samples, a range of readily available, due to inhibition or lack of DNA. As additional positive con- primarily nonhydrothermal environmental samples were also trols, KorY38 plasmid (described below) was added to, and DNA collected and tested for Korarchaeota 16S rRNA genes. These was successfully amplified from, replicates of the Kor236F- included compost (with temperatures measured up to 60°C), Kor1236R reaction of nonhydrothermal samples and a rep- plant leaves, flower petals, tree bark, human saliva, biofilms on licate of each Korarchaeota-specific PCR for Yellowstone computer mice, a mosquito, soil (5- to 10-cm-deep Harvard 2004 samples. Forest, Petersham, MA, and surface soil of Cambridge, MA), PCR mixtures contained 0.625 U of Taq,1ϫ buffer (QIAGEN), 2 sand (Harvard University campus), river water and sediment mM deoxynucleoside triphosphates, 4 mM MgCl2, 200 nM con- (Charles River, Cambridge, MA), lake water (oxic-anoxic in- centrations of each primer, and 0.04% bovine serum albumin. terface of Lake Mishawum, Woburn, MA), seawater (coast of After an initial denaturation of 94°C for 2 min, there were 35 Nahant, MA), 32°C spring water (Chena, AK), 57°C tap water cycles of 94°C for 45 s, 55°C (Kor236F-Univ1492R) or 62°C (Cambridge, MA), and 60 and 90°C steam exhaust biofilms (Arc26F-Kor1236R and Kor236F-Kor1236R) for 45 s, and 72°C Downloaded from (campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, for 2 min, followed by 72°C for 2 min. A portion of each Korar- MA). Except the DNA of sediment, soil, and sand that was chaeota-specific PCR-amplified sample was visualized on a 1% extracted by using a Bio 101 FastDNA SPIN kit for soil, DNA agarose gel. When a band of the appropriate size was observed, was extracted as for Yellowstone microbial mat samples. DNA in the remaining reaction volumes was purified by using a For primer design, fifteen sequences of variable size identi- PCR purification kit (QIAGEN), cloned into pCR2.1 (Invitro- fied as belonging to the Korarchaeota (3, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23, gen) or pDrive (QIAGEN) and then transformed into TOP10 E. 31, 32) were manually aligned in BioEdit (http://www.mbio coli (20). The resulting colonies were screened by PCR with the .ncsu.edu/BioEdit/bioedit.html) with a number of Euryarcha- primers M13F and M13R under the same conditions as for the http://aem.asm.org/ eota, Crenarchaeota, and Nanoarchaeota sequences. Two Kor236F-Univ1492R reactions to identify clones that contained “Korarchaeota” sequences (FZ2bA214 and pOWA133 [22, inserts of the appropriate size. At least one clone per reaction was 31]) that shared very little identity with the other 13 were sequenced by using the primer M13F with an ABI BigDye ter- excluded for the design of the Korarchaeota-specific primers minator v3.1 cycle sequencing kit on an ABI Prism 3100 genetic Kor236F (GCT GAG GCC CCA GGR TGG GAC CG) and analyzer.