Predicted metabolic roles and stress responses provide insights into candidate phyla Hydrogenedentota and Sumerlaeota as members of the rare biosphere in biofilms from various environments.

ABSTRACT: Pustular mats from Shark Bay, Western Australia, host complex microbial communities bound within an organic matrix. These mats harbour many poorly characterized organisms with low relative abundances (<1%), such as candidate phyla Hydrogenedentota and Sumerlaeota. Here, we aim to constrain the metabolism and physiology of these candidate phyla by analyzing two representative metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from a pustular mat. Metabolic reconstructions of these MAGs suggest facultatively anaerobic, chemoorganotrophic lifestyles of both organisms and predict that both MAGs can metabolize a diversity of carbohydrate substrates. Ca. Sumerlaeota possesses genes involved in degrading chitin, cellulose and other polysaccharides, while Ca. Hydrogenedentota can metabolize cellulose derivatives

SUBMITTER: Skoog EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10866078 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature