Permanent Draft Genome of Thiobacillus Thioparus DSM 505T, an Obligately Chemolithoautotrophic Member of the Betaproteobacteria
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Hutt et al. Standards in Genomic Sciences (2017) 12:10 DOI 10.1186/s40793-017-0229-3 SHORT GENOME REPORT Open Access Permanent draft genome of Thiobacillus thioparus DSM 505T, an obligately chemolithoautotrophic member of the Betaproteobacteria Lee P. Hutt1,2, Marcel Huntemann3, Alicia Clum3, Manoj Pillay3, Krishnaveni Palaniappan3, Neha Varghese3, Natalia Mikhailova3, Dimitrios Stamatis3, Tatiparthi Reddy3, Chris Daum3, Nicole Shapiro3, Natalia Ivanova3, Nikos Kyrpides3, Tanja Woyke3 and Rich Boden1,2* Abstract Thiobacillus thioparus DSM 505T is one of first two isolated strains of inorganic sulfur-oxidising Bacteria. The original strain of T. thioparus was lost almost 100 years ago and the working type strain is Culture CT (=DSM 505T = ATCC 8158T) isolated by Starkey in 1934 from agricultural soil at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. It is an obligate chemolithoautotroph that conserves energy from the oxidation of reduced inorganic sulfur compounds using the Kelly-Trudinger pathway and uses it to fix carbon dioxide It is not capable of heterotrophic or mixotrophic growth. The strain has a genome size of 3,201,518 bp. Here we report the genome sequence, annotation and characteristics. The genome contains 3,135 protein coding and 62 RNA coding genes. Genes encoding the transaldolase variant of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle were also identified and an operon encoding carboxysomes, along with Smith’s biosynthetic horseshoe in lieu of Krebs’ cycle sensu stricto. Terminal oxidases were identified, viz. cytochrome c oxidase (cbb3, EC 1.9.3.1) and ubiquinol oxidase (bd, EC 1.10.3.10). There is a partial sox operon of the Kelly-Friedrich pathway of inorganic sulfur-oxidation that contains soxXYZAB genes but lacking soxCDEF, there is also a lack of the DUF302 gene previously noted in the sox operon of other members of the ‘Proteobacteria’ that can use trithionate as an energy source. In spite of apparently not growing anaerobically with denitrification, the nar, nir, nor and nos operons encoding enzymes of denitrification are found in the T. thioparus genome, in the same arrangements as in the true denitrifier T. denitrificans. Keywords: Thiobacillus thioparus, Betaproteobacteria, Sulfur oxidation, Chemolithoautotroph, Carboxysome, Denitrification Introduction Betaproteobacteria) and the type strain is an isolate from In 1902, Thiobacillus thioparus was one of the first two Starkey (1934) (= Culture CT = DSM 505T =ATCC obligately chemolithoautrophic sulfur-oxidizing Bacteria 8158T = CIP 104484T = JCM 3859T = NBRC 103402T) to be isolated, (along with what is now Halothiobacillus [3, 4]. Originally, the characteristic of utilizing inorganic neapolitanus), and was named in 1904 [1, 2]. The ori- sulfur compounds as an energy source was thought to ginal isolates were lost, but Thiobacillus thioparus is be a taxonomic trait unique to Thiobacillus and at its now the type species of the genus (a member of the height the genus contained in at least 32 different ‘spe- cies’ [4]. With phylogenetic methods however, many of * Correspondence: [email protected] these strains have since been reassigned to different, T 1School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake often new genera with T. thioparus DSM 505 being one Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK of four species with validly published names left in the 2Sustainable Earth Institute, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK genus. Compared to other inorganic sulfur-oxidisers, Full list of author information is available at the end of the article surprisingly little research has been conducted on T. © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Hutt et al. Standards in Genomic Sciences (2017) 12:10 Page 2 of 8 thioparus DSM 505T in terms of physiology and bio- electron acceptor – nitrate, nitrite, thiosulfate, sulfate, chemistry or genetics, possibly due to the low growth elementary sulfur and ferric iron do not support growth yields of this species when compared to T. denitrificans as terminal electron acceptors. The genomic DNA G + C and T. aquaesulis [5, 6] making it more challenging to content has been estimated using the thermal denatur- study. It may, however, give extended and contrasted in- ation [11] at 61–62 mol% [7, 10]. T. thioparus DSM sights into autotrophic sulfur-oxidation in the Bacteria. 505T does not grow on any organic carbon compound It was selected for genome sequencing as part of the De- tested, including sugars (glucose, ribose, fructose, su- partment of Energy DOE-CSP 2012 initiative – as type crose), intermediates of Krebs’ cycle (citrate, succinate, species of a genus. fumarate, malate, oxaloacetate), carboxylates (glycolate, formate, acetate, propionate, pyruvate), one-carbon com- Organism information pounds (monomethylamine, dimethylamine, trimethyla- Classification and features mine, methanol, methane), structural amino acids (all Thiobacillus thioparus DSM 505T was isolated from 20), substituted thiophenes (thiophene-2-carboxylate, sandy loam soil from the New Jersey Agricultural Ex- thiophene-3-carboxylate) or complex media (yeast ex- perimental Station planted with unspecified vegetable tract, nutrient broth, brain-heart infusion, Columbia crops using 20mM thiosulfate as sole energy source in sheep or horse blood agar, chocolate agar). Energy basal medium at pH 8.5 by Starkey (1934) [3] and is cur- sources that support autotrophic growth of DSM 505T rently one of four species with validly published names include thiosulfate, trithionate, tetrathionate, pentathio- within the genus. It forms small white colonies of 1– nate, hexathionate, thiocyanate and dithionate. Some 3 mm diameter after 2–3 days that turn pink or brown bone fide strains of T. thioparus (Tk-m and E6) grow au- with age and which become coated with yellow-ish totrophically on carbon disulfide, dimethylsulfide, elementary sulfur. When grown in liquid media, finely dimethyldisulfide and Admidate (O,O-dimethylpho- divided (white) elementary sulfur is formed during early sphoramidothioate) [4], but it is not known if the type stages of growth, particularly when thiosulfate is used as strain DSM 505T is capable of this. Autotrophic growth the energy source. This disappears when growth ap- is not supported by Fe(II), Mn(II), Cu(I), U(IV), sulfite, proaches stationary phase. Thiosulfate is oxidized stoi- dimethylsulfoxide, dimethylsulfone, pyrite or formate. chiometrically to tetrathionate after 24 h accompanied During batch growth on thiosulfate the intermediate by a rise in pH, characteristic of the Kelly-Trudinger production of tetrathionate is observed during early pathway. Tetrathionate is subsequently oxidized to sul- stages of growth, indicative of the Kelly-Trudinger path- fate with culture pH falling to pH 4.8 by stationary way [12]. Compared to the other two members of the phase. During continuous culture, no intermediates are genus [5, 6], T. thioparus DSM 505T has relatively low detected in the medium once steady-state has been growth yields on thiosulfate (Hutt and Boden, manu- established. If the dilution rate of a thiosulfate limited script in preparation) which may give insight into the chemostat is increased, a large production of elementary physiological variances of Kelly-Trudinger pathway or- sulfur is observed, which disappears as a new steady- ganisms even within one genus. state is established at the faster dilution rate. General features of T. thioparus DSM 505T are summarized in Genome sequencing information Table 1. A phylogenetic tree based on the 16S rRNA Genome project history gene sequence showing this organisms position within This organism was selected for sequencing on the basis the Betaproteobacteria and rooted with Thermithiobacil- of its role in sulfur cycling, physiological, biochemical, lus tepidarius is given in Fig. 1. evolutionary and biogeochemical importance, and is part Cells are 1.5–2.0 by 0.6 to 0.8 μm and stain Gram of the GEBA-KMG project at the U.S. Department of negative. They are motile by means of a single polar fla- Energy JGI. The genome project is deposited in the Ge- gellum between 6 and 10 μm in length, as shown in nomes OnLine Database [13] and a high-quality per- Fig. 2. The dominant respiratory quinone is ubiquione-8 manent draft genome sequence in IMG (the annotated [7–10] and fix carbon dioxide using the Calvin-Benson- genome is publically available in IMG under Genome ID Bassham cycle at the expense of inorganic sulfur oxida- 2515154076) [14]. Sequencing, finishing and annotation tion. Cells accumulate polyphosphate (‘volutin’) granules were performed by the JGI using state of the art sequen- in batch culture and to a lesser extent in an energy- cing technology [15]. A summary of the project informa- limited chemostat [8]. Carboxysomes are present in cells tion is given in Table 2. regardless of growth conditions employed (Fig. 1), but are apparently not found in T. denitrificans cells, at least Growth conditions and genomic DNA preparation