Research article

The complete genome sequence of Staphylothermus marinus reveals differences in sulfur metabolism among heterotrophic Crenarchaeota

Iain J Anderson¹ , Lakshmi Dharmarajan² , Jason Rodriguez^2,3 , Sean Hooper¹ , Iris Porat^4,13 , Luke E Ulrich⁵ , James G Elkins⁶ , Kostas Mavromatis¹ , Hui Sun⁷ , Miriam Land⁶ , Alla Lapidus⁷ , Susan Lucas⁷ , Kerrie Barry⁸ , Harald Huber⁹ , Igor B Zhulin⁵ , William B Whitman⁴ , Biswarup Mukhopadhyay^2,3,10 , Carl Woese¹¹ , James Bristow¹² and Nikos Kyrpides¹

¹Genome Biology Program, Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, USA

²Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA

³Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA

⁴Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, USA

⁵Joint Institute for Computational Sciences, University of Tennessee – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, USA

⁶Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, USA

⁷Production Department, Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, USA

⁸Project Management Department, Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, USA

⁹Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie und Archaeenzentrum, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

¹⁰Biological Sciences Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA

¹¹Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana USA

¹²Programs Department, Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, USA

¹³Biological and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, USA

author email corresponding author email

BMC Genomics 2009, 10:145doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-145

Published:	2 April 2009

Abstract

Background

Staphylothermus marinus is an anaerobic, sulfur-reducing peptide fermenter of the archaeal phylum Crenarchaeota. It is the third heterotrophic, obligate sulfur reducing crenarchaeote to be sequenced and provides an opportunity for comparative analysis of the three genomes.

Results

The 1.57 Mbp genome of the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeote Staphylothermus marinus has been completely sequenced. The main energy generating pathways likely involve 2-oxoacid:ferredoxin oxidoreductases and ADP-forming acetyl-CoA synthases. S. marinus possesses several enzymes not present in other crenarchaeotes including a sodium ion-translocating decarboxylase likely to be involved in amino acid degradation. S. marinus lacks sulfur-reducing enzymes present in the other two sulfur-reducing crenarchaeotes that have been sequenced – Thermofilum pendens and Hyperthermus butylicus. Instead it has three operons similar to the mbh and mbx operons of Pyrococcus furiosus, which may play a role in sulfur reduction and/or hydrogen production. The two marine organisms, S. marinus and H. butylicus, possess more sodium-dependent transporters than T. pendens and use symporters for potassium uptake while T. pendens uses an ATP-dependent potassium transporter. T. pendens has adapted to a nutrient-rich environment while H. butylicus is adapted to a nutrient-poor environment, and S. marinus lies between these two extremes.

Conclusion

The three heterotrophic sulfur-reducing crenarchaeotes have adapted to their habitats, terrestrial vs. marine, via their transporter content, and they have also adapted to environments with differing levels of nutrients. Despite the fact that they all use sulfur as an electron acceptor, they are likely to have different pathways for sulfur reduction.