Project description:Dissimilatory iron reduction by hyperthermophilic archaea occurs in many geothermal environments and generally relies on microbe-mineral interactions that transform various iron oxide minerals. In this study, the physiology of dissimilatory iron and nitrate reduction was examined in the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Pyrodictium delaneyi Su06T. Protein electrophoresis showed that the c-type cytochrome and general protein compositions of P. delaneyi changed when grown on ferrihydrite relative to nitrate. Differential proteomic analyses using tandem mass tagged protein fragments and mass spectrometry detected 660 proteins and differential production of 127 proteins. Among these, two putative membrane-bound molybdopterin-dependent oxidoreductase complexes increased in relative abundance 60- to 3,000-fold and 50-100-fold in cells grown on iron oxide. A putative 8-heme c-type cytochrome was 60-fold more abundant in iron grown cells and was unique to the Pyrodictiaceae. There was also a >14,700-fold increase in a membrane transport protein in iron grown cells. There were no changes in the abundances of flagellin proteins nor a putative nitrate reductase, but a membrane nitric oxide reductase was more abundant on nitrate. These data help to elucidate the mechanisms by which hyperthermophilic crenarchaea generate energy and transfer electrons across the membrane to iron oxide minerals.
