Todd Rio

Frateuria aurantia Swings et al. 1980 is a member of the bispecific genus Frateuria in the family Xanthomonadaceae, which is already heavily tar-geted for non-type strain genome sequencing. Strain Kondô 67T was initially identi-fied as a member of 'Acetobacter aurantius', a name that was not considered for the ap-proved list. Kondô 67T was therefore later designated as the type strain of the newly pro-posed acetogenic species Frateuria aurantia. The strain is of interest because of its triterpenoids. F. aurantia Kondô 67T is the first member of the genus Frateura whose genome sequence has been deciphered, and here we describe the features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence and annotation. The 3,603,458-bp long chromosome with its 3,200 protein-coding and 88 RNA genes is a part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project. © BY-SA.

© The Author 2016.Bacteria living on and in leaves and roots influence many aspects of plant health, so the extent of a plant's genetic control over its microbiota is of great interest to crop breeders and evolutionary biologists. Laboratory-based studies, because they poorly simulate true environmental heterogeneity, may misestimate or totally miss the influence of certain host genes on the microbiome. Here we report a large-scale field experiment to disentangle the effects of genotype, environment, age and year of harvest on bacterial communities associated with leaves and roots of Boechera stricta, a perennial wild mustard. Host genetic control of the microbiome is evident in leaves but not roots, and varies substantially among sites. Microbiome composition also shifts as plants age. Furthermore, a large proportion of leaf bacterial groups are shared with roots, suggesting inoculation from soil. Our results demonstrate how genotype-by-environment interactions contribute to the complexity of microbiome assembly in natural environments.

© 2017 Jungbluth et al.It is generally accepted that diverse, poorly characterized microorganisms reside deep within Earth's crust. One such lineage of deep subsurface-dwelling bacteria is an uncultivated member of the Firmicutes phylum that can dominate molecular surveys from both marine and continental rock fracture fluids, sometimes forming the sole member of a single-species microbiome. Here, we reconstructed a genome from basalthosted fluids of the deep subseafloor along the eastern Juan de Fuca Ridge flank and used a phylogenomic analysis to show that, despite vast differences in geographic origin and habitat, it forms a monophyletic clade with the terrestrial deep subsurface genome of "Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator" MP104C. While a limited number of differences were observed between the marine genome of "Candidatus Desulfopertinax cowenii" modA32 and its terrestrial relative that may be of potential adaptive importance, here it is revealed that the two are remarkably similar thermophiles possessing the genetic capacity for motility, sporulation, hydrogenotrophy, chemoorganotrophy, dissimilatory sulfate reduction, and the ability to fix inorganic carbon via the Wood- Ljungdahl pathway for chemoautotrophic growth. Our results provide insights into the genetic repertoire within marine and terrestrial members of a bacterial lineage that is widespread in the global deep subsurface biosphere, and provides a natural means to investigate adaptations specific to these two environments.

© 2016 International Society for Microbial Ecology All rights reserved.Previous studies on enhanced biological phosphorus removal have focused on reconstructing genomic blueprints for the model polyphosphate-accumulating organism Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis. Here, a time series metatranscriptome generated from enrichment cultures of Accumulibacter was used to gain insight into anerobic/aerobic metabolism and regulatory mechanisms within an EBPR cycle. Co-expressed gene clusters were identified displaying ecologically relevant trends consistent with batch cycle phases. Transcripts displaying increased abundance during anerobic acetate contact were functionally enriched in energy production and conversion, including upregulation of both cytoplasmic and membrane-bound hydrogenases demonstrating the importance of transcriptional regulation to manage energy and electron flux during anerobic acetate contact. We hypothesized and demonstrated hydrogen production after anerobic acetate contact, a previously unknown strategy for Accumulibacter to maintain redox balance. Genes involved in anerobic glycine utilization were identified and phosphorus release after anerobic glycine contact demonstrated, suggesting that Accumulibacter routes diverse carbon sources to acetyl-CoA formation via previously unrecognized pathways. A comparative genomics analysis of sequences upstream of co-expressed genes identified two statistically significant putative regulatory motifs. One palindromic motif was identified upstream of genes involved in PHA synthesis and acetate activation and is hypothesized to be a phaR binding site, hence representing a hypothetical PHA modulon. A second motif was identified ~35 base pairs upstream of a large and diverse array of genes and hence may represent a sigma factor binding site. This analysis provides a basis and framework for further investigations into Accumulibacter metabolism and the reconstruction of regulatory networks in uncultured organisms.

Thermanaerovibrio velox Zavarzina et al. 2000 is a member of the Synergistaceae, a family in the phylum Synergistetes that is already well-characterized at the genome level. Members of this phylum were described as Gram-negative staining anaerobic bacteria with a rod/vibrioid cell shape and possessing an atypical outer cell envelope. They inhabit a large variety of an-aerobic environments including soil, oil wells, wastewater treatment plants and animal gas-trointestinal tracts. They are also found to be linked to sites of human diseases such as cysts, abscesses, and areas of periodontal disease. The moderately thermophilic and organotrophic T. velox shares most of its morphologic and physiologic features with the closely related spe-cies, T. acidaminovorans. In addition to Su883T, the type strain of T. acidaminovorans, stain Z-9701T is the second type strain in the genus Thermanaerovibrio to have its genome se-quence published. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the non-contiguous genome sequence and annotation. The 1,880,838 bp long chromosome with its 1,751 protein-coding and 59 RNA genes is a part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project. © BY-SA.