Molecular Characterisation of Microbial Communities Involved In
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Molecular characterisation of microbial communities involved in nitrate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane Mohamed Fauzi Haroon BBiotech (Hons I), University of Queensland A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2014 School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Australian Centre for Ecogenomics Abstract Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, approximately 30 times more effective in trapping heat than carbon dioxide, and contributes significantly to global warming. In nature, methane can be produced and consumed by microbes. One of the most important methane sinks is anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM), which is responsible for substantial consumption of methane from anoxic environments by coupling its oxidation to various electron acceptors. This thesis aims to understand the microorganisms associated with AOM coupled to nitrate reduction, a process that is of increasing environmental relevance as water bodies become eutrophied through endemic use of fertilisers for agriculture. The first report of a consortium capable of AOM coupled to denitrification was reported in 2006, comprised of an anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaea belonging to the family ANME-2d, now known as Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens, and a bacterial member Candidatus Methlomirabilis oxyfera. However, long-term incubations demonstrate that the M. nitroreducens can be absent from the process and that M. oxyfera is capable of performing AOM alone by coupling to nitrite reduction. The disappearance of M. nitroreducens brought into question its role in the initial consortium. Here, microbial community profiling of nitrate-driven AOM reactors showed that M. nitroreducens dominated the community. In Chapter Two, a novel method that modified the conventional fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) by removing the fixation-step and separated cells of interest using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), was developed with the goal of sequencing single-cells of M. nitroreducens. This fixation-free method was believed to eliminate the crosslinking of protein and nucleic acid by fixatives, thus increasing the nucleic acid yield for sequencing. As a proof of concept, the fixation- free FISH-FACS method was successfully applied to populations of monoderm and diderm cells. Using an optimised approach, single cells and populations of M. nitroreducens were separated away from other community members for genome sequencing. These results are presented as a published book chapter. To further elucidate the role of M. nitroreducens in nitrate-driven AOM, detailed analysis of metagenomic, single-cell genomics and metatranscriptomics data was undertaken in Chapter Three. Results showed that M. nitroreducens was capable of independent AOM through reverse methanogenesis using nitrate as the terminal electron acceptor. Comparative analyses revealed that the genes for nitrate reduction appear to be laterally transferred from a bacterial donor, suggesting selection for this novel process within M. nitroreducens. Nitrite produced by M. nitroreducens was reduced to dinitrogen gas through a syntrophic relationship with an anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacterium. These results are presented as a published manuscript. ii In Chapter Four, eight reactor communities fed with different combinations of methane, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium were characterised using 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing and validated using FISH. Results showed that core populations (Methanoperedeneceae, Kuenenia and Methylomirabilis) were stable across reactors but present at different abundances suggestive of competitive and cooperative interactions between populations. Deep amplicon sequencing revealed a diverse community including three previously unrecognized bacterial populations; Ignavibacteriales (belonging to the phylum Chlorobi), Phycisphaerales (belonging to the phylum Planctomycetes) and Anaerolineae (belonging to the phylum Chloroflexi). Ignavibacteriales abundance correlated with high nitrite consumption rates suggesting its role in nitrite reduction. Phycisphaerales had an inverse relationship with Kuenenia and Ignavibacteriales suggesting that there may be competitive interactions and that Phycisphaerales may also have a similar role in nitrite reduction. The ubiquity of Anaerolineae in most reactors indicated that it may be a generalist. These results are presented as a draft manuscript. Genomic evidence indicates that M. nitroreducens is not only able to reduce nitrate to nitrite but also nitrite to ammonium, in a process called dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). DNRA is a major part of the nitrogen cycle and catalysed by the cytochrome c nitrite reductases (nrfA). M. nitroreducens has three copies of nrfA, making this the first report of nrfA in an archaeon. Chapter Five applied meta-omic approaches, coupled to stable isotope labelling tests, to characterise a reactor community performing AOM coupled to DNRA. Stable isotope labelling tests showed accumulation of 15N-labelled ammonium in batch reactor with high carbon to nitrogen ratio. Metagenomics showed similar members of the community as described in Chapter Four and were consistently dominated by M. nitroreducens. Using a differential coverage binning approach, 20 near-complete population genomes were extracted. Gene-centric analysis indicated that a number of the populations had the genes for nitrate reduction (napA and narG) and nitrite ammonification (nrfA), but only two known methanotrophs (M. nitroreducens and Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera) harboured key genes for methane oxidation (mcrA and pmoA), respectively. However, most of M. nitroreducens’ expressed genes were in the top 5% of absolute transcript counts, showing that M. nitroreducens is the most active population in the reactor. The M. nitroreducens’ mcr complex was differentially expressed but its nrfAs were not significantly expressed in the AOM-DNRA batch reactor and several other members of the community also demonstrated low levels of nrfA expression. These results may suggest that 1) DNRA may have already been occurring in the nitrate-driven AOM batch reactor, 2) other bacterial populations together with M. nitroreducens may collectively be carrying out DNRA or 3) the gene expression of nrfA may not iii correlate to the cytochrome c nitrite reductase protein abundance. Future metaproteomics will be required to confirm this finding. The findings presented in this thesis have provided new insight into the structure of microbial communities in nitrate-driven AOM and the highlighted potential interplay between specific populations. iv Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. v Publications during candidature Haroon MF, Hu S, Shi Y, Imelfort M, Keller J, Hugenholtz P, Yuan Z, Tyson GW. 2013. Anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to nitrate reduction in a novel archaeal lineage. Nature 500:567-570. Haroon MF, Skennerton CT, Steen JA, Lachner N, Hugenholtz P, Tyson GW. 2013. Chapter One - In-solution fluorescence in situ hybridization and fluorescence-activated cell sorting for single cell and population genome recovery, p. 3-19. In Edward FD (ed.), Methods in Enzymology, vol. Volume 531. Academic Press. Hu S, Zeng RJ, Haroon MF, Keller J, Lant PA, Tyson GW, Yuan Z. Submitted. A laboratory investigation of interactions between denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) and anammox processes in anoxic environments. Scientific Reports. Publications included in this thesis - Haroon MF, Skennerton CT, Steen JA, Lachner N, Hugenholtz P, Tyson GW. 2013. Chapter One - In-solution fluorescence in situ hybridization and fluorescence-activated cell sorting for single cell and population genome recovery, p. 3-19. In Edward FD (ed.), Methods in Enzymology, vol. Volume 531. Academic Press. (Incorporated as Chapter 2) Contributor Statement of contribution Haroon, MF (Candidate) Designed experiments (35%) Performed experiments (45%) Wrote the initial draft (80%) Prepared figures