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Research
Victor Borin Centurion
State University of Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5597-8554
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background
Antarctica is the coldest and driest continent on Earth, characterized by polyextreme environmental conditions, where species adapted to grow and thrive at low values of temperature, low nutrient concentration and relative humidity and high UV radiation form complex networks of interactions. Microbial communities growing in these harsh environments can form biofilms that help the associated species to survive in such harsh conditions. The knowledge on biofilms microbial community in the literature is extensive, however, most studies are focused on the dominant species and are not able to disclose the whole functional complexity and entire metabolic potential.
Methods
To overcome these limitations, the present study used genome-centric metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to analyze two biofilm samples collected in Deception Island, Maritime Antarctica. Species abundance and their functional activity were correlated with environmental parameters. Differential gene expression analysis based on the negative binomial distribution of the DeSeq2 package was used to compare the abundance of metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) in the biofilms (BR and BG) and the gene expression of the metatranscriptomic analysis (p-value 0.05).
Results
The results showed a complex microbiome represented by 180 MAGs, highly divergent according to temperature, pH, and position along a transect of Whalers Bay sediments. Metabolic evaluations allowed to predict polyphenols and chitin as primary substrate feeding. The potential metabolic interactions were investigated using metabolic flux balance analysis and revealed that purple bacteria are the taxonomic group with the highest number of correlations with other bacteria. This behavior is well represented by the MAG WB_595 belonging to Alphaproteobacteria.
Conclusions
Due to predicted mixothrophic behavior of Alaproteobacteria_WB_595 MAG, it may represent a crucial member of the microbiome, and it has the potential to support the heterotrophic species in the biofilms. Metatranscriptomics revealed that the chaperone system and proteins counteracting reactive oxygen species and toxic compounds have a key role in the maintenance of bacterial cell homeostasis in sediments of volcanic origin.
Keywords
genome-centric metagenomics, Whalers Bay, Correlation Network, Purple Bacteria, Stress response
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- SupplementaryFigure1ClusteringDendrogramDREP.pdf
Comparison of WB and TARA-Ocean MAGs based on dRep tool, showing ANI values (Average Nucleotide Identity) of all intermediate/high quality MAGs (n= 180) of Whalers Bay (WB) and TARA-Ocean (n= 2,683).
- SupplementaryFigure2heatmapDRAM.pdf
Metabolic Pathways. Heatmap of the DRAM tool results, showing the metabolic pathway of all Intermedium/High quality MAGs. The colors blue mean the presence of the gene, and the color white the absence of the gene.
- SupplementaryTable1BinningStatistic.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable2MAGsCoverage.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable3SmetanaResults.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable4GOtermsinformation.xlsx
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A new preprint design is coming!
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This is a preprint, a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Research
Victor Borin Centurion
State University of Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5597-8554
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 1
Posted 21 Jan, 2021
No community comments so far
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
General Microbiology
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Background
Antarctica is the coldest and driest continent on Earth, characterized by polyextreme environmental conditions, where species adapted to grow and thrive at low values of temperature, low nutrient concentration and relative humidity and high UV radiation form complex networks of interactions. Microbial communities growing in these harsh environments can form biofilms that help the associated species to survive in such harsh conditions. The knowledge on biofilms microbial community in the literature is extensive, however, most studies are focused on the dominant species and are not able to disclose the whole functional complexity and entire metabolic potential.
Methods
To overcome these limitations, the present study used genome-centric metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to analyze two biofilm samples collected in Deception Island, Maritime Antarctica. Species abundance and their functional activity were correlated with environmental parameters. Differential gene expression analysis based on the negative binomial distribution of the DeSeq2 package was used to compare the abundance of metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) in the biofilms (BR and BG) and the gene expression of the metatranscriptomic analysis (p-value 0.05).
Results
The results showed a complex microbiome represented by 180 MAGs, highly divergent according to temperature, pH, and position along a transect of Whalers Bay sediments. Metabolic evaluations allowed to predict polyphenols and chitin as primary substrate feeding. The potential metabolic interactions were investigated using metabolic flux balance analysis and revealed that purple bacteria are the taxonomic group with the highest number of correlations with other bacteria. This behavior is well represented by the MAG WB_595 belonging to Alphaproteobacteria.
Conclusions
Due to predicted mixothrophic behavior of Alaproteobacteria_WB_595 MAG, it may represent a crucial member of the microbiome, and it has the potential to support the heterotrophic species in the biofilms. Metatranscriptomics revealed that the chaperone system and proteins counteracting reactive oxygen species and toxic compounds have a key role in the maintenance of bacterial cell homeostasis in sediments of volcanic origin.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
- SupplementaryFigure1ClusteringDendrogramDREP.pdf
Comparison of WB and TARA-Ocean MAGs based on dRep tool, showing ANI values (Average Nucleotide Identity) of all intermediate/high quality MAGs (n= 180) of Whalers Bay (WB) and TARA-Ocean (n= 2,683).
- SupplementaryFigure2heatmapDRAM.pdf
Metabolic Pathways. Heatmap of the DRAM tool results, showing the metabolic pathway of all Intermedium/High quality MAGs. The colors blue mean the presence of the gene, and the color white the absence of the gene.
- SupplementaryTable1BinningStatistic.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable2MAGsCoverage.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable3SmetanaResults.xlsx
- SupplementaryTable4GOtermsinformation.xlsx
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