Microbial metabolism and adaptations in Atribacteria‐dominated methane hydrate sediments

• Published in: Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Glass, Jennifer B., Ranjan, Piyush, Kretz, Cecilia B., Nunn, Brook L., Johnson, Abigail M., Xu, Manlin, McManus, James, Stewart, Frank J.
• Other Authors: Division of Ocean Sciences, Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2021
• Subjects: Methane hydrate
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15656; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.15656; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1462-2920.15656; https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/1462-2920.15656

Summary Gas hydrates harbour gigatons of natural gas, yet their microbiomes remain understudied. We bioprospected 16S rRNA amplicons, metagenomes, and metaproteomes from methane hydrate‐bearing sediments under Hydrate Ridge (offshore Oregon, USA, ODP Site 1244, 2–69 mbsf) for novel microbial metabolic and biosynthetic potential. Atribacteria sequences generally increased in relative sequence abundance with increasing sediment depth. Most Atribacteria ASVs belonged to JS‐1‐Genus 1 and clustered with other sequences from gas hydrate‐bearing sediments. We recovered 21 metagenome‐assembled genomic bins spanning three geochemical zones in the sediment core: the sulfate–methane transition zone, the metal (iron/manganese) reduction zone, and the gas hydrate stability zone. We found evidence for bacterial fermentation as a source of acetate for aceticlastic methanogenesis and as a driver of iron reduction in the metal reduction zone. In multiple zones, we identified a Ni‐Fe hydrogenase‐Na + /H + antiporter supercomplex (Hun) in Atribacteria and Firmicutes bins and in other deep subsurface bacteria and cultured hyperthermophiles from the Thermotogae phylum. Atribacteria expressed tripartite ATP‐independent transporters downstream from a novel regulator (AtiR). Atribacteria also possessed adaptations to survive extreme conditions (e.g. high salt brines, high pressure and cold temperatures) including the ability to synthesize the osmolyte di‐myo‐inositol‐phosphate as well as expression of K + ‐stimulated pyrophosphatase and capsule proteins.