Project description:Extreme acidophiles thrive in environments rich in protons (pH values <3) and often high levels of dissolved heavy metals. They are distributed across the three domains of the Tree of Life including members of the Proteobacteria. The Acidithiobacillia class is formed by the neutrophilic genus Thermithiobacillus along with the extremely acidophilic genera Fervidacidithiobacillus, Igneacidithiobacillus, Ambacidithiobacillus, and Acidithiobacillus. Phylogenomic reconstruction revealed a division in the Acidithiobacillia class correlating with the different pH optima that suggested that the acidophilic genera evolved from an ancestral neutrophile within the Acidithiobacillia. Genes and mechanisms denominated as "first line of defense" were key to explaining the Acidithiobacillia acidophilic lifestyle including preventing proton influx that allows the cell to maintain a near-neutral cytoplasmic pH and differ from the neutrophilic Acidithiobacillia ancestors that lacked these systems. Additional differences between the neutrophilic and acidophilic Acidithiobacillia included the higher number of gene copies in the acidophilic genera coding for "second line of defense" systems that neutralize and/or expel protons from cell. Gain of genes such as hopanoid biosynthesis involved in membrane stabilization at low pH and the functional redundancy for generating an internal positive membrane potential revealed the transition from neutrophilic properties to a new acidophilic lifestyle by shaping the Acidithiobacillaceae genomic structure. The presence of a pool of accessory genes with functional redundancy provides the opportunity to "hedge bet" in rapidly changing acidic environments. Although a core of mechanisms for acid resistance was inherited vertically from an inferred neutrophilic ancestor, the majority of mechanisms, especially those potentially involved in resistance to extremely low pH, were obtained from other extreme acidophiles by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events.

Project description:Peripheral light harvesting (LH) antenna complexes have been studied extensively in the purple nonsulfur bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris because it produces different types of LH complexes under high light intensities (LH2 complex) and low light intensities (LH3 and LH4 complex). The ability of R. palustris to alter its peripheral LH complexes in response to changes in light intensity is attributed to the multiple operons that encode the a and b peptides that make up these complexes, whose expression is affected by light intensity, light quality, and oxygen tension. However, low resolution structures, amino acid similarities between the complexes, and a lack of transcriptional analysis made it difficult to determine the LH complexes composition and functions under different light intensities. It was also unclear how much diversity of the R. palustris LH complexes exists in nature.Results: To gain insight into the composition of the LH complexes, their function under high light intensities and low light intensities, and their prevalence in the environment we undertook an integrative genomics approach using 15 closely related R. palustris strains isolated from the environment and 5 R. palustris ecotypes whose genomes have been sequenced. We sequenced the genomes for the 15 closely related strains and using RNA-seq carried out transcriptomic analysis on all 20 strains grown under high light intensity and low light intensity. We were able to determine that even closely related R. palustris strains had differences in their pucBA gene content and expression, even under the same growth conditions. We also found that the LH2 complex could compensate for the lack of an LH4 complex under LL intensities but not under extremely LL intensities. Conclusions: This is the first time an integrative genomics approach has been used to study light harvesting in the environment. The variation observed in LH gene composition and expression in environmental isolates of R. palustris likely reflects how these strains have adapted to specific light conditions in the environment. We have also shown that there is redundancy between some of the LH complexes under certain light intensities, which may partially explain why multiple operons encoding LH complexes have evolved and been maintained in R. palustris. Examing the variation observed in LH gene composition and expression in various environmental isolates

Project description:Peripheral light harvesting (LH) antenna complexes have been studied extensively in the purple nonsulfur bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris because it produces different types of LH complexes under high light intensities (LH2 complex) and low light intensities (LH3 and LH4 complex). The ability of R. palustris to alter its peripheral LH complexes in response to changes in light intensity is attributed to the multiple operons that encode the a and b peptides that make up these complexes, whose expression is affected by light intensity, light quality, and oxygen tension. However, low resolution structures, amino acid similarities between the complexes, and a lack of transcriptional analysis made it difficult to determine the LH complexes composition and functions under different light intensities. It was also unclear how much diversity of the R. palustris LH complexes exists in nature.Results: To gain insight into the composition of the LH complexes, their function under high light intensities and low light intensities, and their prevalence in the environment we undertook an integrative genomics approach using 15 closely related R. palustris strains isolated from the environment and 5 R. palustris ecotypes whose genomes have been sequenced. We sequenced the genomes for the 15 closely related strains and using RNA-seq carried out transcriptomic analysis on all 20 strains grown under high light intensity and low light intensity. We were able to determine that even closely related R. palustris strains had differences in their pucBA gene content and expression, even under the same growth conditions. We also found that the LH2 complex could compensate for the lack of an LH4 complex under LL intensities but not under extremely LL intensities. Conclusions: This is the first time an integrative genomics approach has been used to study light harvesting in the environment. The variation observed in LH gene composition and expression in environmental isolates of R. palustris likely reflects how these strains have adapted to specific light conditions in the environment. We have also shown that there is redundancy between some of the LH complexes under certain light intensities, which may partially explain why multiple operons encoding LH complexes have evolved and been maintained in R. palustris.

			Action	DRS
	SRR27959900_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR27959900_2.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR27959901_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR27959901_2.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz
	SRR27959902_1.fastq.gz	Fastqsanger.gz

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Integrative genomics sheds light on the immunogenetics of tuberculosis in cattle

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