“ Candidatus Desulfobulbus rimicarensis,” an Uncultivated Deltaproteobacterial Epibiont from the Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Shrimp Rimicaris exoculata


Citation
Jiang et al. (2020). Applied and Environmental Microbiology 86 (8)
Names (1)
Ca. Desulfobulbus rimicarensis
Subjects
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Biotechnology Ecology Food Science
Abstract
The shrimp Rimicaris exoculata represents the dominant faunal biomass at many deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This organism harbors dense bacterial epibiont communities in its enlarged cephalothoracic chamber that play an important nutritional role. Deltaproteobacteria are ubiquitous in epibiotic communities of R. exoculata , and their functional roles as epibionts are based solely on the presence of functional genes. Here, we describe “ Candidatus Desulfobulbus rimicarensis,” an uncultivated deltaproteobacterial epibiont. Compared to campylobacterial and gammaproteobacterial epibionts of R. exoculata , this bacterium possessed unique metabolic pathways, such as the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, as well as sulfur disproportionation and nitrogen fixation pathways. Furthermore, this epibiont can be distinguished from closely related free-living Desulfobulbus strains by its reduced genetic content and potential loss of functions, suggesting unique adaptations to the shrimp host. This study is a genomic and transcriptomic analysis of a deltaproteobacterial epibiont and largely expands the understanding of its metabolism and adaptation to the R. exoculata host.
Authors
Publication date
2020-04-01
DOI
10.1128/aem.02549-19