Abstract
Members of the bacterial genus Thalassotalea have been isolated recently from various marine environments, including marine invertebrates. A metagenomic study of the Deepwater Horizon oil plume has identified genes involved in aromatic hydrocarbon degradation in the Thalassotalea genome, shedding light on its potential role in the degradation of crude oils. However, the genomic traits of the genus are not well-characterized, despite the ability of the species to degrade complex natural compounds, such as agar, gelatin, chitin, or starch. Here, we obtained a complete genome of a new member of the genus, designated PS06, isolated from marine sediments containing dead marine benthic macroalgae. Unexpectedly, strain PS06 was unable to grow using most carbohydrates as sole carbon sources, which is consistent with the finding of few ABC transporters in the PS06 genome. A comparative analysis of 12 Thalassotalea genomes provided insights into their metabolic potential (e.g., microaerobic respiration and carbohydrate utilization) and evolutionary stability [including a low abundance of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) loci and prophages]. The diversity and frequency of genes encoding extracellular enzymes for carbohydrate metabolism in the 12 genomes suggest that members of Thalassotalea contribute to nutrient cycling by the redistribution of dissolved organic matter in marine environments. Our study improves our understanding of the ecological and genomic properties of the genus Thalassotalea.
Highlights
The genus Thalassotalea, belonging to the family Colwelliaceae in the class Gammaproteobacteria, was first described by Zhang et al [1]; the type strain Thalassotalea ganghwensis was isolated from the gill of a cultured flounder and was recently emended along with the reclassification of strains in the genus [2,3]
We found transporters for dissolved organic matter (DOM, cluster 3090 and 427) and siderophore/vitamins in the PS06 genome based on the TonB-dependent transporters (TBDT) database [37], as well as in other genomes analyzed in this study (Table 1 and Data Set 2)
These results suggest that members of the genus Thalassotalea play roles in marine nutrient cycling by the redistribution of DOM or inorganic compounds
Summary
The genus Thalassotalea, belonging to the family Colwelliaceae in the class Gammaproteobacteria, was first described by Zhang et al [1]; the type strain Thalassotalea ganghwensis was isolated from the gill of a cultured flounder and was recently emended along with the reclassification of strains in the genus [2,3]. A recent metagenomic analysis has suggested that Thalassotalea spp. contribute to the biodegradation of hydrocarbons, as important components of the microbial consortium from the Deepwater Horizon oil plume [5]. These species have a wide range of metabolic functions and growth conditions (including pH, temperature, and salt conditions), few studies have evaluated their genomic and metabolic traits. These results support the hypothesis that Thalassotalea spp. have metabolic flexibility or the ability to adapt in marine environments; these previous findings are based on a small number of genomes
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