Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Sulfate-reducing bacteria Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator (CDA) were originally discovered in deep fracture fluids accessed via South African gold mines and have since been found in geographically widespread deep subsurface locations. In order to constrain models for subsurface microbial evolution, we compared CDA genomes from Africa, North America and Eurasia using single cell genomics. Unexpectedly, 126 partial single amplified genomes from the three continents, a complete genome from of an isolate from Eurasia, and metagenome-assembled genomes from Africa and Eurasia shared >99.2% average nucleotide identity, low frequency of SNP's, and near-perfectly conserved prophages and CRISPRs. Our analyses reject sample cross-contamination, recent natural dispersal, and unusually strong purifying selection as likely explanations for these unexpected results. We therefore conclude that the analyzed CDA populations underwent only minimal evolution since their physical separation, potentially as far back as the breakup of Pangea between 165 and 55 Ma ago. High-fidelity DNA replication and repair mechanisms are the most plausible explanation for the highly conserved genome of CDA. CDA presents a stark contrast to the current model organisms in microbial evolutionary studies, which often develop adaptive traits over far shorter periods of time.
Source: The ISME Journal
Authors: Eric D Becraft, Maggie C Y Lau Vetter, Oliver K I Bezuidt, Julia M Brown, Jessica M Labonté, Kotryna Kauneckaite-Griguole, Ruta Salkauskaite, Gediminas Alzbutas, Joshua D Sackett, Brittany R Kruger, Vitaly Kadnikov, Esta van Heerden, Duane Moser, Nikolai Ravin, Tullis Onstott, Ramunas Stepanauskas
Institutions: University of North Alabama, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Princeton University, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Lithuania), Desert Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Centre «Fundamentals of Biotechnology» of the Russian Academy of Sciences, North-West University
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,860
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Nevada Space Grant Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Connecticut, AngloGold Ashanti, Russian Science Foundation, NASA Astrobiology Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, National Park Service
Awards: RII Track-2 FEC: Single Cell Genome-to-Phenome: Integrating Genome and Phenome Analyses of Individual Microbial Cells in Complex Microbiomes, G3331774798, FPDS BASE DESCRIPTION, MULTIPLE YEAR AWARD&INCREMENTAL FUNDING FOR YEARS 1 OF 5. THIS PROPOSAL IS ENTITLED, "LIFE UNDERGROUND." THIS IS AWARDED IN, G4344317773, G4800455784, G4949622410, Collaborative research: Untangling the Deep Genealogy of Microbial Dark Matter, G5772845580, GOALS&OBJECTIVES THE OVERALL MISSION OF THE NEVADA SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM (NVSGC) IS TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES THAT WILL ENHANCE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY,
OpenAlex ID: W3149730794