Metagenomics-guided analysis of microbial chemolithoautotrophic phosphite oxidation yields evidence of a seventh natural CO₂ fixation pathway.

ABSTRACT: Dissimilatory phosphite oxidation (DPO), a microbial metabolism by which phosphite (HPO₃^2-) is oxidized to phosphate (PO₄^3-), is the most energetically favorable chemotrophic electron-donating process known. Only one DPO organism has been described to date, and little is known about the environmental relevance of this metabolism. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene community analysis and genome-resolved metagenomics to characterize anaerobic wastewater treatment sludge enrichments performing DPO coupled to CO₂ reduction. We identified an uncultivated DPO bacterium, Candidatus Phosphitivorax (Ca. P.) anaerolimi strain Phox-21, that belongs to candidate order GW-28 within the Deltaproteobacteria, which has no known

SUBMITTER: Figueroa IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5776814 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature