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The Archaea Prof. José R. de la Torre [email protected] BIOL 240 –– Fall 2011
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Page 1: BIOL240_F11_Archaea

The Archaea

Prof. José R. de la Torre [email protected] BIOL 240 –– Fall 2011

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How can we determine evolutionary relationships among microbes?

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Difficulties of elucidating the evolutionary relationships of microbes

•  Few distinguishing morphological features in microbes as compared to larger organisms (plants, animals, etc).

•  Microbes have been traditionally classified based on physiology and phenotype

•  Bergey’s Manual largely based on phenotype

•  HOWEVER, physiology (e.g., respiration) rarely tracks with phylogeny (i.e., genotype) in microbes.

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Which ones are more closely related?

Escherishia coli Nitrosopumilus maritimus

Homo sapiens subsp. Gaga

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Ernst Haeckel (1866)

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- unicellular - “prokaryotic”

- unicellular - eukaryotic

PLANTAE FUNGI ANIMALIA

• Classification scheme based on morphological similarities and energy sources

• Highest taxonomic group = KINGDOM

• Identified 5 kingdoms - Monera - Protista - Animalia - Plantae - Fungi

Robert Whittaker: The 5 Kingdoms

1969

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“Molecules as documents of evolutionary history” Zuckerkandl and Pauling (1965)

J. Theoret. Biol., 8:357-366

• developmental homologies

• molecular homologies

• universal genetic code

• eukaryote chromosomes same structure

• chlorophyll a

• cytochrome C

• nucleic acid and amino acid comparisons

• much more about this in a few weeks

gill bars

post-anal

tail

Hemoglobin

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•  Present in all organisms

•  Homologous (common evolutionary origin)

•  Not transferred horizontally (vertically inherited)

•  Readily obtained & sequenced

Requirements of a gene “proxy” for an organismal phylogeny

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Carl Woese (U-Illinois)

Used ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes to determine “natural” or evolutionary relationships among organisms.

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Small subunit ribosomal RNA •  16S rRNA in

archaea & bacteria

•  18S rRNA in eucaryotes

•  Contains regions with 100% conservation in all organisms

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Natural taxonomy: based on evolutionary relatedness i.e, allows phylogeny to be predictive

--> Related organisms should have similar properties (not that we always know “which” properties those are)

Woese, 1977

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Amann (1995) Microbial Reviews 59: 143-169

Sediments 0.25% Soil 0.3% Seawater 0.001-0.1% Freshwater 0.25% Activated sludge 1-15%

Most microorganisms cannot be grown in the lab!

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Norman Pace: Cultivation-independent identification of microorganisms

• Use molecular biology (PCR) to obtain and sequence rRNA genes directly from environment

• Enables cataloging of microbial species in any environment

• Revolutionized our view of microbiology

BACTERIA

ARCHAEA

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Kirk Harris

Bacterial Diversity: 20 years later

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You are here

THE BIG

TREE

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Lessons from the “Big Tree” • All cellular life is related (one origin of Life!)

• Three domains of life, not two: Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya

• Most life is microbial (still)

• Root is on bacterial line

• Eukaryotic nuclear line of descent as old as Archaea

• Bacterial origins of both mitochondrion and chloroplast

mitochondria

chloroplasts

You are here

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Thermophilic Origin of Life?

•  The organisms closest to the “Root” of the Big Tree are all thermophiles

•  This suggests that Life may have originated in a high temperature environment

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You are here

THE ARCHAEA

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•  Archaea are “old” or “primitive”

•  Archaea are obligate “extremophiles”

•  Archaea are basically the “same” as bacteria (morphology, size)

•  Archaea “turned into” eucarya?

Preconceptions about archaea

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•  Metabolism is like bacteria (e.g., energy metabolism, central metabolism).

•  Cellular machinery (replication, cell division, transcription, translation, etc.) is much more closely related to machinery in eucaryotes.

•  Lipids are unlike those in either bacteria or eucaryotes.

Archaea have mixed characteristics

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Archaeal Lipids •  Different from bacterial, eukaryotic lipids

–  L-glycerol, not D-glycerol –  Ether links, not ester –  Branched chains of lipids

•  Made from isoprene units •  No unsaturations in lipid

isoprene unit

OO

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Major Lipids of Archaea and Membrane Structure

PHYTANYL: 20 Carbons = C20 (½ membrane width)

BIPHYTANYL: 40 Carbons = C40 (full membrane width)

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Archaeal Lipids: Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs)

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Archaeal groups defined phylogenetically

• Euryarchaeota

• Crenarchaeota

• Nanoarchaeota

• Korarchaeota

• Thaumarchaeota

• Many uncultivated lineages

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CULTIVATED ARCHAEA

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The Euryarchaeota

•  Large physiological diversity

•  Thermophiles, hyperthermophiles

•  Mesophiles & psychrophiles

•  Methanogens

•  Extreme halophiles

•  Many uncultivated lineages

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Euryarchaeota: Methanogens • Phylogenetically diverse group with a common metabolism

• Produce methane (CH4) from a variety of compounds (CO2, acetate)

• All methanogens are strict anaerobes

• Group includes psychrophiles, mesophiles and thermophiles

• Commonly found in swamps & sediments

Methanobrevibacter arboriphus Methanospirillum

hungatei

Methanocaldococcus jannaschii

Methanopyrus kandleri

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Euryarchaeota: Extreme halophiles

•  Require > 1.5M NaCl (up to 5M) •  Some live in soda lakes (pH > 9) •  Many unusual morphologies

Haloquadratum

Seawater Evaporating Ponds Near San Francisco Bay, California

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Euryarchaeota: Thermoplasma/Ferroplasma

• Acidophiles, capable of growing below pH=0

• Lack cell walls - similar to mycoplasmas

• Oven obtained from coal refuse piles (contain pyrite FeS2) that heat up spontaneously

• Ferroplasma (35°C), also in mine tailings, coal refuse

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Korarchaeota

• Originally defined phylogenetically based on environmental sequences

• One representative cultivated in consortium (mixture of 3 organisms)

• Hyperthermophile (>85˚C)

• Ferments peptides

Cell Preparation and Genome Sequencing. It was observed thatfilamentous cells hybridizing to probes KR515R/KR565R remainedintact in the presence of high concentrations of SDS (up to 1%) inthe hybridization buffer. This feature allowed highly enriched cellpreparations to be made by exposing the Obsidian Pool enrichmentculture to 0.2% (wt/vol) SDS (without cell fixation) followed byseveral washing steps and filtration through 0.45-!m syringe filters.PCR-amplified SSU rDNA sequences from SDS-treated filteredcell preparations showed that !99% of the clones sequenced (n "180) were identical to the SSU rDNA sequence of pOPF!08 (seeFig. S3). Phase-contrast (Fig. 1B) and EM (Fig. 1C) showed thesamples to be highly enriched for ultrathin filamentous cells with adiameter of 0.16–0.18 !m. DNA clone libraries were constructedfrom both SDS- and nonSDS- (libraries BHXI and BFPP, respec-tively) treated enrichment culture filtrates. A total of 23,000 and11,520 quality sequencing reads from libraries BHXI and BFPP,respectively, were binned based on %GC content and read depth.Overlapping fosmid sequences containing the pOPF!08 SSU rRNAgene (Fig. S4) were used to guide the WGS assembly. Five largescaffolds with a read depth of #8.4–9.9 were closed by PCR(further details are provided in SI Text). Single-nucleotide poly-morphisms occur at a rate of $0.2% across the genome.

General Features. The complete genome consists of a circularchromosome 1,590,757 bp in length with an average G%C contentof 49% (Table 1). A single operon was identified that contains genesfor the SSU and LSU rRNAs. Forty-five tRNAs were identified byusing tRNAscan-SE (18). A total of 1,617 protein-coding geneswere predicted with an average size of 870 bp. Of the predictedprotein-coding genes, 72.4% included AUG; 17.6%, UUG; and10% had GUG for start codons. The archaeal Clusters of Ortholo-gous Groups (arCOGs) analysis (see below), combined with addi-tional database searches, allowed the assignment of a specific

biological function to 998 (62%) predicted proteins; for another 246proteins (15%), biochemical activity but not biological functioncould be predicted, and for the remaining 373 (23%) proteins, nofunctional prediction was possible, although many of these areconserved in some other archaea and/or bacteria.

arCOGs. The predicted proteins were assigned to arCOGs (19) (seeSI Text, Dataset S1]. Of the 1,617 annotated proteins, 1,382 (85%)were found to belong to the arCOGs, a coverage that is slightlylower than the mean coverage of 88% for other archaea and muchgreater than the lowest coverage obtained for Nanoarchaeumequitans (72%) and Cenarchaeum symbiosum (58%). When thegene complement was compared with the strictly defined core genesets for the Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota (i.e., genes that arerepresented in all sequenced genomes from the respective division,with the possible exception for C. symbiosum in the case of theCrenarchaeota, but that are missing in at least some organisms of theother division), a strong affinity with the Crenarchaeota was readilyapparent. Specifically, Ca. K. cryptofilum possesses 169 of the 201genes from the crenarchaeal core (84%) but only 33 of the 52 genesfrom the euryarchaeal core (63%). When the core gene sets weredefined more liberally, i.e., as genes present in more than two-thirdsof the genomes from one division and absent in the other division,the korarchaeote actually shared more genes with the Euryarcha-eota than with Crenarchaeota (Table 2, Table S1). Seven proteinshad readily identifiable bacterial but not archaeal orthologs, asdetermined by assigning proteins to bacterial COGs (20) (TableS2). Conceivably, the respective genes were captured via indepen-dent horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events from various bacteria.By contrast, no proteins were specifically shared with eukaryotes,to the exclusion of other archaea. The organism lacks only five genesthat are represented in all sequenced archaeal genomes, namely,diphthamide synthase subunit DPH2, diphthamide biosynthesismethyltransferase, predicted ATPase of PP-loop superfamily; pre-dicted Zn-ribbon RNA-binding protein, and small-conductancemechanosensitive channel.

Energy Metabolism. The predicted gene set suggests that Ca. K.cryptofilum grows heterotrophically, using a variety of peptideand amino acid degradation pathways. At least four ABC-typeoligopeptide transporters and an OPT-type symporter couldimport short peptides, which more than a dozen peptidasescould hydrolyze into amino acids. As in Pyrococcus spp.,pyridoxal 5&-phosphate-dependent aminotransferases can con-vert amino acids to 2-oxoacids, while scavenging amines with"-keto-glutarate to form glutamate. Four ferredoxin-dependent oxidoreductases (specific for indolepyruvate, pyru-vate, 2-oxoglutarate, or 2-oxoisovalerate) could oxidize anddecarboxylate the 2-oxoacids, producing acyl-CoA molecules.

Fig. 1. Microscopy of Ca. K. cryptofilum. (A) FISH analysis with Korarchaeota-specific Cy3-labeled oligonucleotide probes KR515R/KR565R. The undulatedcell shape results from drying of the specimen on gelatin coated slides beforehybridization. (Scale bar, 5 !m.) (B) Phase-contrast image of korarchaealfilaments after physical enrichment. (Scale bar, 5 !m.) (C) Scanning electronmicrograph of purified cells. (D) Transmission electron micrograph after neg-ative staining with uranyl acetate displaying the paracrystalline S layer. Cellsare flattened, which increases their apparent thickness.

Table 1. General features of the Ca. K. cryptofilum genome

Genome feature Value

Total number of bases 1,590,757Coding density, % 90.7G % C content, % 49.0Total number of predicted genes 1,665Protein coding genes 1,617Average ORF length, bp 870rRNA genes* 3tRNA genes 45Genes assigned to COGs 1,401Genes assigned to arCOGs 1,382Genes with function prediction 998Genes with biochemical prediction only 246Genes with unknown function or activity 373

*16S, 23S, and 5S rRNA.

Elkins et al. PNAS ! June 10, 2008 ! vol. 105 ! no. 23 ! 8103

MIC

ROBI

OLO

GY

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Nanoarcheaota •  Nanonarcheum equitans

•  Obligate symbiont (parasite?) of Ignicoccus

•  0.4µm diameter

•  Smallest genome (0.5Mb) –  contains only core genes for

molecular processes

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Nanoarchaeota

•  Phylogenetic placement is currently hotly debated

•  May be highly derived members of the Crenarchaeota

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Crenarchaeota

•  Cultivated Crenarchaeota are primarily hyperthermophiles & anaerobes

•  Many are also acidophiles (pH 3-4)

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Sulfolobus solfataricus

Solfatara in Naples

•  Hot sulfur-rich enviroments •  Tom Brock •  Lobed coccus •  Chemolithotroph •  Chemoorganotroph •  Growth 75-87°C •  pH 2-3 • Good genetics!

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Pyrodictium strain 121 • Current record for life’s temp limit • Grows at 121°C (in an autoclave!) • Withstands temperatures up to 130°C • Lives in walls of black smoker • Chemolithotroph

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Crenarchaeota

•  The vast majority of Crenarchaeota are from uncultivated lineages.

WHAT DO THEY DO?

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Marine archaea: Discovery of the Thaumarchaeota

Karner, DeLong & Karl (2001), Nature 409:507-10

Marine archaea at the Hawaii Ocean Time Series (HOTS)

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Temp.: 24˚C [NH4

+]: ~0.5 µM

gravel substratum

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Marine archaea “eat” ammonia and convert CO2 into biomass

NH3 + 1½ O2 NO2- + H+ + H2O

humans…

C6H12O6 +

6 O2

6 CO2 +

6 H2O

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The Nitrogen Cycle

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0.1

Cenarchaeum symbiosumCandidatus Nitrosopumilus maritimus

Candidatus Korarchaeum cryptofilumThermofilum pendens

Caldivirga maquilingensisPyrobaculum calidifontis

Pyrobaculum islandicumPyrobaculum aerophilum

Pyrobaculum arsenaticumIgnicoccus hospitalisStaphylothermus marinus

Aeropyrum pernixHyperthermus butylicus

Metallosphaera sedulaSulfolobus solfataricus

Sulfolobus acidocaldariusSulfolobus tokodaii

Nanoarchaeum equitansThermococcus gammatoleransThermococcus kodakarensis

Pyrococcus furiosusPyrococcus abyssiPyrococcus horikoshii

Methanopyrus kandleriMethanosphaera stadtmanae

Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicusMethanocaldococcus jannaschii

Methanococcus aeolicusMethanococcus maripaludisMethanococcus vannielii

Picrophilus torridusFerroplasma acidarmanus

Thermoplasma acidophilumThermoplasma volcanium

Archaeoglobus fulgidusHalobacterium sp

Natronomonas pharaonisHaloarcula marismortui

Halorubrum lacusprofundiHaloquadratum walsbyi

Haloferax volcaniiMethanocorpusculum labreanum

Methanoculleus marisnigriCandidatus Methanoregula

Methanospirillum hungateiMethanosaeta thermophila

Methanococcoides burtoniiMethanosarcina barkeriMethanosarcina acetivoransMethanosarcina mazei

Giardia lambliaEntamoeba histolytica

Leishmania majorTrypanosoma cruziTrypanosoma brucei

Cryptosporidium parvumTheileria parvaPlasmodium yoelii

Plasmodium falciparumArabidopsis thaliana

Oryza sativaDictyostelium discoideum

Homo sapiensAnopheles gambiae

Saccharomyces cerevisiaeSchizosaccharomyces pombe

94

7061

90

52

55

71

69

8275

61

88

95

38

78

97

96

90

100

100100

100100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100100

100

100

100100

100

100

100100

100100

100

100

100100

100100

100

100

8651

97

64

100100

100100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Eucarya

ThaumarchaeotaKorarchaeota

Sulfolobales

Desulfurococcales

Thermoproteales

Nanoarchaeota

Thermococcales

MethanopyralesMethanobacteriales

Methanococcales

ThermoplasmatalesArchaeoglobales

Halobacteriales

Methanomicrobiales

Methanosarcinales

Crenarchaeota

Euryarchaeota

0.1

Crenarchaeota

Euryarchaeota

Saccharomyces cerevisiaeDictyostelium discoideum

Oryza sativa1.00Candidatus Korarchaeum cryptofilum

Candidatus Nitrosopumilus maritimusCenarchaeum symbiosum1.00

Pyrobaculum aerophilumThermofilum pendens1.00

Aeropyrum pernixHyperthermus butylicus

1.00

Sulfolobus acidocaldariusMetallosphaera sedula1.00

1.00

1.00

0.88

Nanoarchaeum equitansThermococcus kodakarensis

Pyrococcus abyssi1.00Methanopyrus kandleri

Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicusMethanosphaera stadtmanae1.00

1.00

Methanocaldococcus jannaschiiMethanococcus maripaludis1.00

Thermoplasma volcaniumFerroplasma acidarmanus1.00

Archaeoglobus fulgidusHaloarcula marismortuiNatronomonas pharaonis1.00

Methanosarcina mazeiMethanosaeta thermophila

1.00

Methanospirillum hungateiMethanocorpusculum labreanum1.00

0.70

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

0.88

1.00

Eucarya

ThaumarchaeotaKorarchaeota

Sulfolobales

Desulfurococcales

Thermoproteales

NanoarchaeotaThermococcalesMethanopyralesMethanobacteriales

Methanococcales

ThermoplasmatalesArchaeoglobalesHalobacteriales

Methanomicrobiales

Methanosarcinales

Figure S4. (A) Maximum-likelihood phylogeny of Group 1 Archaea. The phylogeny was inferred using an alignment of concatenated R-proteins (66 taxa, 6,142 positions). WAG+Inv+Gamma (4 classes). 100 replicates. (B) Bayesian tree of mesophilic Group 1 Archaea inferred using an alignment of concatenated R-proteins (29 taxa, 6,142 positions). Mixed model + Gamma (4 classes). 100 replicates.

Supplemental Figure S4

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Thermophilic Origin of Life?

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Obsidian Pool, Yellowstone National Park

75 – 80 ˚C pH 4.5 – 6.0

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Heart Lake 1 70 - 80°C pH 8.3 NH4+ 95 µM NO2- 3 µM NO3- 174 µM

Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii

200 nm

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2 µm

Emily Tung

Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii

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Growth of Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii HL72

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N. yellowstonii has no intracellular compartments

Photo by Yuichi Suwa

Nitrosomonas europaea Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii

Watson et al. (1989)

Nitrosococcus oceanus

Photo by Emily Tung

100 nm

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Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii Genome Size 1.43 Mbp

G+C Content 37%

Number of Genes 1605 Protein coding 1550 16S rRNA 1 23S rRNA 1 tRNAs 45

Percentage coding 91%

Many interesting features: –  Fla, Che, Ure, Topo, Cdv, FtsZ

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Eucarya Korarchaeota Crenarchaeota Thaumarchaeota Euryarchaeota Bacteria

N. yellowstonii BLASTP

Hits

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N. yellowstonii

N. maritimus

C. symbiosum

188 679 genes

302 genes

364 genes

22

10 149

Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii

1.4 Mb 1600 genes

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Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii

Nitrosopumilus maritimus

Cenarchaeum symbiosum

188

679

302 364

22

10 149

Function unknown/ Poorly characterized: 120 (80%)

Metabolism

Cellular Processes & Signaling

Information Storage & Processing

Hope Gray

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Tengchong, China

Lassen NP, CA

Great Basin, NV

Yellowstone National Park, WY