Abstract
Aerobic bacteria that degrade methylphosphonates and produce methane as a byproduct have emerged as key players in marine carbon and phosphorus cycles. Here, we present two new draft genome sequences of the genus Marivita that were assembled from metagenomes from hypersaline former industrial salterns and compare them to five other Marivita reference genomes. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that both of these metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) represent new species in the genus. Average nucleotide identities to the closest taxon were <85%. The MAGs were assembled with SPAdes, binned with MetaBAT, and curated with scaffold extension and reassembly. Both genomes contained the phnCDEGHIJLMP suite of genes encoding the full C-P lyase pathway of methylphosphonate degradation and were significantly more abundant in two former industrial salterns than in nearby reference and restored wetlands, which have lower salinity levels and lower methane emissions than the salterns. These organisms contain a variety of compatible solute biosynthesis and transporter genes to cope with high salinity levels but harbor only slightly acidic proteomes (mean isoelectric point of 6.48).
Highlights
Biogenic methane production in nature has historically been attributed to anaerobic decomposition of organic matter performed by archaea
Since these metagenome-assembled genomes were assembled from hypersaline former industrial solar salterns with elevated methane emissions, we focused on describing methylphosphonate cycling genes and halotolerance genes present in the two genomes
According to the phylogenetic tree constructed with 49 single copy clusters of orthologous groups (COGs), the metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were placed within the Marivita genus (Figure S1), in agreement with MAG classification were placed within the Marivita genus (Figure S1), in agreement with MAG classification tools such as Bin Annotation Tool and GTDB-Tk
Summary
Biogenic methane production in nature has historically been attributed to anaerobic decomposition of organic matter performed by archaea. While this is the dominant known source of naturally produced methane, recent work has elucidated additional pathways performed by members of the bacterial domain in aerobic environments. This body of work has its origins in observations of elevated methane emissions from aerobic marine environments, a phenomenon which became known as the “methane paradox” [1]. Methylphosphonates are known to be used by microbes, both in marine and soil environments, as a source of phosphorus when other forms of phosphorus such as inorganic phosphate are limited [11–13]
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