Microbial and viral-like rhodopsins present in coastal marine sediments from four polar and subpolar regions

• Published in: FEMS Microbiology Ecology
• Main Authors: Lopez, Jose Luis, Golemba, Marcelo Darío, Hernández, Edgardo, Lozada, Mariana, Dionisi, Hebe Monica, Jansson, Janet K., Carroll, Jolynn, Lundgren, Leif, Sjöling, Sara, Mac Cormack, Walter Patricio
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc
• Subjects: MARINE SEDIMENT; METAGENOMES; MICROBIAL RHODOPSIN; PHYLOGEOGRAPHY; POLAR/SUBPOLAR; VIRAL RHODOPSIN; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1; Argentina; Argentino; Edgardo; Lopez; Norway; Organic Lake; Antarc*; Antarctica; Dirección Nacional del Antártico; Instituto Antártico Argentino
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11336/39117

Rhodopsins are broadly distributed. In this work, we analyzed 23 metagenomes corresponding to marine sediment samples from four regions that share cold climate conditions (Norway; Sweden; Argentina and Antarctica). In order to investigate the genes evolution of viral rhodopsins, an initial set of 6224 bacterial rhodopsin sequences according to COG5524 were retrieved from the 23 metagenomes. After selection by the presence of transmembrane domains and alignment, 123 viral (51) and non-viral (72) sequences (>50 amino acids) were finally included in further analysis. Viral rhodopsin genes were homologs of Phaeocystis globosa virus and Organic lake Phycodnavirus. Non-viral microbial rhodopsin genes were ascribed to Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Proteobacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus and Cryptophyta and Fungi. A rescreening using Blastp, using as queries the viral sequences previously described, retrieved 30 sequences (>100 amino acids). Phylogeographic analysis revealed a geographical clustering of the sequences affiliated to the viral group. This clustering was not observed for the microbial non-viral sequences. The phylogenetic reconstruction allowed us to propose the existence of a putative ancestor of viral rhodopsin genes related to Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi. This is the first report about the existence of a phylogeographic association of the viral rhodopsin sequences from marine sediments. Fil: Lopez, Jose Luis. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina Fil: Golemba, Marcelo Darío. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Pediatría Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Hernández, Edgardo. Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Interno y Culto. Dirección Nacional del Antártico. Instituto Antártico Argentino; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Lozada, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico ...