Bacterial growth at -15 °C; molecular insights from the permafrost bacterium Planococcus halocryophilus Or1.

ABSTRACT: Planococcus halocryophilus strain Or1, isolated from high Arctic permafrost, grows and divides at -15 °C, the lowest temperature demonstrated to date, and is metabolically active at -25 °C in frozen permafrost microcosms. To understand how P. halocryophilus Or1 remains active under the subzero and osmotically dynamic conditions that characterize its native permafrost habitat, we investigated the genome, cell physiology and transcriptomes of growth at -15 °C and 18% NaCl compared with optimal (25 °C) temperatures. Subzero growth coincides with unusual cell envelope features of encrustations surrounding cells, while the cytoplasmic membrane is significantly remodeled favouring a higher ratio of saturated to branched fatty acids. Analyses of the 3.4 Mbp genome revealed that a suite of cold an

SUBMITTER: Mykytczuk NC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3660685 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature