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Logo of bmcgenoBioMed Centralsearchsubmit a manuscriptregisterthis articleBMC Genomics
 
BMC Genomics. 2009; 10: 145.
Published online 2009 April 2. doi:  10.1186/1471-2164-10-145
PMCID: PMC2678158
Copyright © 2009 Anderson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
The complete genome sequence of Staphylothermus marinus reveals differences in sulfur metabolism among heterotrophic Crenarchaeota
Iain J Anderson,corresponding author1 Lakshmi Dharmarajan,2 Jason Rodriguez,2,3 Sean Hooper,1 Iris Porat,4,13 Luke E Ulrich,5 James G Elkins,6 Kostas Mavromatis,1 Hui Sun,7 Miriam Land,6 Alla Lapidus,7 Susan Lucas,7 Kerrie Barry,8 Harald Huber,9 Igor B Zhulin,5 William B Whitman,4 Biswarup Mukhopadhyay,2,3,10 Carl Woese,11 James Bristow,12 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
corresponding authorCorresponding author.
Iain J Anderson: IJAnderson/at/lbl.gov; Lakshmi Dharmarajan: laxo82/at/vt.edu; Jason Rodriguez: jrodri/at/vt.edu; Sean Hooper: SHooper/at/lbl.gov; Iris Porat: porati/at/ornl.gov; Luke E Ulrich: ulrich.luke/at/gmail.com; James G Elkins: elkinsjg/at/ornl.gov; Kostas Mavromatis: KMavrommatis/at/lbl.gov; Hui Sun: HSun/at/lbl.gov; Miriam Land: landml/at/ornl.gov; Alla Lapidus: ALapidus/at/lbl.gov; Susan Lucas: lucas11/at/llnl.gov; Kerrie Barry: KWBarry/at/lbl.gov; Harald Huber: harald.huber/at/biologie.uni-regensburg.de; Igor B Zhulin: ijouline/at/utk.edu; William B Whitman: whitman/at/uga.edu; Biswarup Mukhopadhyay: biswarup/at/vt.edu; Carl Woese: carl/at/life.uiuc.edu; James Bristow: JBristow/at/lbl.gov; Nikos Kyrpides: NCKyrpides/at/lbl.gov
Received September 5, 2008; Accepted April 2, 2009.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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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.
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