Insights into the biology of acidophilic members of the Acidiferrobacteraceae family derived from comparative genomic analyses

Publication date: Available online 22 August 2018Source: Research in MicrobiologyAuthor(s): Francisco Issotta, Ana Moya-Beltrán, Cristóbal Mena, Paulo C. Covarrubias, Christian Thyssen, Sören Bellenberg, Wolfgang Sand, Raquel Quatrini, Mario VeraAbstractThe family Acidiferrobacteraceae (order Acidiferrobacterales) currently contains Gram negative, neutrophilic sulfur oxidizers such as Sulfuricaulis and Sulfurifustis, as well as acidophilic iron and sulfur oxidizers belonging to the Acidiferrobacter genus. The diversity and taxonomy of the genus Acidiferrobacter has remained poorly explored. Although several metagenome and bioleaching studies have identified its presence worldwide, only two strains, namely Acidiferrobacter thiooxydans DSM 2932T, and Acidiferrobacter spp. SP3/III have been isolated and made publically available.Using 16S rRNA sequence data publically available for the Acidiferrobacteraceae, we herein shed light into the molecular taxonomy of this family. Results obtained support the presence of three clades Acidiferrobacter, Sulfuricaulis and Sulfurifustis. Genomic analyses of the genome sequences of Af. thiooxydansT and Acidiferrobacter spp. SP3/III indicate that ANI relatedness between the SPIII/3 strain and Af. thiooxydansT is below 95– 96%, supporting the classification of strain SP3/III as a new species within this genus. In addition, approximately 70% of Acidiferrobacter sp. SPIII/3 predicted genes have a conserved ortholog in A. thiooxydans strains....
Source: Research in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research