Comparative genomic analysis of Methanimicrococcus blatticola provides insights into host adaptation in archaea and the evolution of methanogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Other than the Methanobacteriales and Methanomassiliicoccales, the characteristics of archaea that inhabit the animal microbiome are largely unknown. Methanimicrococcus blatticola, a member of the Methanosarcinales, currently reunites two unique features within this order: it is a colonizer of the animal digestive tract and can only reduce methyl compounds with H₂ for methanogenesis, a increasingly recognized metabolism in the archaea and whose origin remains debated. To understand the origin of these characteristics, we have carried out a large-scale comparative genomic analysis. We infer the loss of more than a thousand genes in M. blatticola, by far the largest genome reduction across all Methanosarcinales. These include numerous elements for sensing the environment and adapt

SUBMITTER: Thomas CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9723798 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature