RESUMEN
Temperature is a key variable in biological processes. However, a complete understanding of biological temperature adaptation is lacking, in part because of the unique constraints among different evolutionary lineages and physiological groups. Here we compared the genomes of cultivated psychrotolerant and thermotolerant methanogens, which are physiologically related and span growth temperatures from -2.5°C to 122°C. Despite being phylogenetically distributed amongst three phyla in the archaea, the genomic core of cultivated methanogens comprises about one-third of a given genome, while the genome fraction shared by any two organisms decreases with increasing phylogenetic distance between them. Increased methanogenic growth temperature is associated with reduced genome size, and thermotolerant organisms-which are distributed across the archaeal tree-have larger core genome fractions, suggesting that genome size is governed by temperature rather than phylogeny. Thermotolerant methanogens are enriched in metal and other transporters, and psychrotolerant methanogens are enriched in proteins related to structure and motility. Observed amino acid compositional differences between temperature groups include proteome charge, polarity and unfolding entropy. Our results suggest that in the methanogens, shared physiology maintains a large, conserved genomic core even across large phylogenetic distances and biology's temperature extremes.
Asunto(s)
Archaea , Calor , Temperatura , Filogenia , Archaea/genética , Archaea/metabolismo , GenómicaRESUMEN
Cyanobacteria thrive in diverse environments. However, questions remain about possible growth limitations in ancient environmental conditions. As a single genus, the Thermosynechococcus are cosmopolitan and live in chemically diverse habitats. To understand the genetic basis for this, we compared the protein coding component of Thermosynechococcus genomes. Supplementing the known genetic diversity of Thermosynechococcus, we report draft metagenome-assembled genomes of two Thermosynechococcus recovered from ferrous carbonate hot springs in Japan. We find that as a genus, Thermosynechococcus is genomically conserved, having a small pan-genome with few accessory genes per individual strain as well as few genes that are unique to the genus. Furthermore, by comparing orthologous protein groups, including an analysis of genes encoding proteins with an iron related function (uptake, storage or utilization), no clear differences in genetic content, or adaptive mechanisms could be detected between genus members, despite the range of environments they inhabit. Overall, our results highlight a seemingly innate ability for Thermosynechococcus to inhabit diverse habitats without having undergone substantial genomic adaptation to accommodate this. The finding of Thermosynechococcus in both hot and high iron environments without adaptation recognizable from the perspective of the proteome has implications for understanding the basis of thermophily within this clade, and also for understanding the possible genetic basis for high iron tolerance in cyanobacteria on early Earth. The conserved core genome may be indicative of an allopatric lifestyle-or reduced genetic complexity of hot spring habitats relative to other environments.