Metagenomics unveils the attributes of the alginolytic guilds of sediments from four distant cold coastal environments

• Published in: Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Matos, Marina N., Lozada, Mariana, Anselmino, Luciano E., Musumeci, Matias A., Henrissat, Bernard, Jansson, Janet K., Mac Cormack, Walter P., Carroll, Jolynn, Sjoling, Sara, Lundgren, Leif, Dionisi, Hebe M.
• Other Authors: Laboratorio de Microbiologia Ambienta, Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos (CESIMAR/CENPAT-CONICET) (CESIMAR), Architecture et fonction des macromolécules biologiques (AFMB), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Aix Marseille Université (AMU), Department of Biological Sciences, The Open University Milton Keynes (OU), Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Instituto de Nanobiotecnología Buenos Aires (NANOBIOTEC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Buenos Aires (CONICET)-Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica Buenos Aires (FFYB), Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (UBA)-Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (UBA), Instituto Antártico Argentino (IAA), Akvaplan-Niva Tromsø, Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE), The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø, Norway (UiT), School of Natural Sciences and Environmental Studies, Södertörn University (Sweden), Stockholm University, Department of Energy-Joint Genome Institute (DOE-JGI) under the Community Sequencing Program (CSP) 403959, 404206, 404777-404782, 404786, 404788-404801, CONICET 112-200801-01736, National Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology of Argentina 0468, University of Buenos Aires UBA 2014-2017 20020130100569BA, Argentinean Antarctic Institute; ANPCyT 0124, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory DE-AC05-76RLO1830, Agence Nationale de la Recherche ANR-10-BINF-03-04, Research Council of Norway 223259, European Project: 318718,EC:FP7:PEOPLE,FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IRSES,IMCONET(2013)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; [SDV.BIBS]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Quantitative Methods [q-bio.QM]; Arctic; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01601908; https://hal.science/hal-01601908/document; https://hal.science/hal-01601908/file/2016_Matos_Environment%20Microbiology_1.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13433

Alginates are abundant polysaccharides in brown algae that constitute an important energy source for marine heterotrophic bacteria. Despite the key role of alginate degradation processes in the marine carbon cycle, little information is available on the bacterial populations involved in these processes. The aim of this work was to gain a better understanding of alginate utilization capabilities in cold coastal environments. Sediment metagenomes from four high-latitude regions of both Hemispheres were interrogated for alginate lyase gene homologue sequences and their genomic context. Sediments contained highly abundant and diverse bacterial assemblages with alginolytic potential, including members of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, as well as several poorly characterized taxa. The microbial communities in Arctic and Antarctic sediments exhibited the most similar alginolytic profiles, whereas brackish sediments showed distinct structures with a higher proportion of novel genes. Examination of the gene neighbourhood of the alginate lyase homologues revealed distinct patterns depending on the potential lineage of the scaffolds, with evidence of evolutionary relationships among alginolytic gene clusters from Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. This information is relevant for understanding carbon fluxes in cold coastal environments and provides valuable information for the development of biotechnological applications from brown algae biomass.