ArticleBMC genomics2018
Genome analysis of the freshwater planktonic Vulcanococcus limneticus sp. nov. reveals horizontal transfer of nitrogenase operon and alternative pathways of nitrogen utilization.
Article in BMC genomics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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12 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Comparative Metagenomic Study of Rhizospheric and Bulk Mercury-Contaminated Soils in the Mining District of Almadén.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
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- Genomic Comparison and Spatial Distribution of DifferentFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Insights Into the Evolution of Picocyanobacteria and Phycoerythrin Genes (Frontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany cyanobacteria are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, playing a crucial role in biogeochemical cycling. Little is known about freshwater unicellular cyanobacteria Synechococcus spp. at the genomic level, despite being recognised of considerable ecological importance in aquatic ecosystems. So far, it has not been shown whether these unicellular picocyanobacteria have the potential for nitrogen fixation. Here, we present the draft-genome of the new pink-pigmented Synechococcus-like strain Vulcanococcus limneticus. sp. nov., isolated from the volcanic Lake Albano (Central Italy).
resultsThe novel species Vulcanococcus limneticus sp. nov. falls inside the sub-cluster 5.2, close to the estuarine/marine strains in a maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree generated with 259 marker genes with representatives from marine, brackish, euryhaline and freshwater habitats. V.limneticus sp. nov. possesses a complete nitrogenase and nif operon. In an experimental setup under nitrogen limiting and non-limiting conditions, growth was observed in both cases. However, the nitrogenase genes (nifHDK) were not transcribed, i.e., V.limneticus sp. nov. did not fix nitrogen, but instead degraded the phycobilisomes to produce sufficient amounts of ammonia. Moreover, the strain encoded many other pathways to incorporate ammonia, nitrate and sulphate, which are energetically less expensive for the cell than fixing nitrogen. The association of the nif operon to a genomic island, the relatively high amount of mobile genetic elements (52 transposases) and the lower observed GC content of V.limneticus sp. nov. nif operon (60.54%) compared to the average of the strain (68.35%) support the theory that this planktonic strain may have obtained, at some point of its evolution, the nif operon by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from a filamentous or heterocystous cyanobacterium.
conclusionsIn this study, we describe the novel species Vulcanococcus limneticus sp. nov., which possesses a complete nif operon for nitrogen fixation. The finding that in our experimental conditions V.limneticus sp. nov. did not express the nifHDK genes led us to reconsider the actual ecological meaning of these accessory genes located in genomic island that have possibly been acquired via HGT.
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