Nanohaloarchaea as beneficiaries of xylan degradation by haloarchaea

Microbial Biotechnology · 18 authors, 11 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.

AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

TRACE TO SOURCE

“

TL;DR

The central result is that nanohaloarchaea function as ectosymbionts of Haloferax, which scavenges oligosaccharides produced by the xylan-hydrolysing Halorhabdus, forming a three-member food chain.

Full summary

727 CHARS

The study investigated microbial consortia from natural evaporitic brines and solar salterns that degrade xylan, a major hemicellulose. Researchers assembled and closed the genomes for all members of two distinct xylan-degrading cultures. The analysis revealed a three-member food chain in each consortium: the haloarchaeon Halorhabdus hydrolyses xylan into oligosaccharides, the haloarchaeon Haloferax scavenges these oligosaccharides, and the nanohaloarchaea act as ectosymbionts of Haloferax. Microscopy, multi-omics, and cultivation approaches confirmed these associations. The study doubled the number of cultivated nanohaloarchaeal genera, demonstrating they are active components of polysaccharide-degrading communities.

STUDY TYPE

other

SPECIALTY

preclinical research

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10443357

Nanohaloarchaea as beneficiaries of xylan degradation by haloarchaea

Microbial Biotechnology

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

Abstract Climate change, desertification, salinisation of soils and the changing hydrology of the Earth are creating or modifying microbial habitats at all scales including the oceans, saline groundwaters and brine lakes. In environments that are saline or hypersaline, the biodegradation of recalcitrant plant and animal polysaccharides can be inhibited by salt‐induced microbial stress and/or by limitation of the metabolic capabilities of halophilic microbes. We recently demonstrated that the chitinolytic haloarchaeon Halomicrobium can serve as the host for an ectosymbiont, nanohaloarchaeon ‘ Candidatus Nanohalobium constans’. Here, we consider whether nanohaloarchaea can benefit from the haloarchaea‐mediated degradation of xylan, a major hemicellulose component of wood. Using samples of natural evaporitic brines and anthropogenic solar salterns, we describe genome‐inferred trophic relations in two extremely halophilic xylan‐degrading three‐member consortia. We succeeded in genome assembly and closure for all members of both xylan‐degrading cultures and elucidated the respective food chains within these consortia. We provide evidence that ectosymbiontic nanohaloarchaea is an active ecophysiological component of extremely halophilic xylan‐degrading communities (although by proxy ) in hypersaline environments. In each consortium, nanohaloarchaea occur as ectosymbionts of Haloferax , which in turn act as scavenger of oligosaccharides produced by xylan‐hydrolysing Halorhabdus . We further obtained and characterised the nanohaloarchaea–host associations using microscopy, multi‐omics and cultivation approaches. The current study also doubled culturable nanohaloarchaeal symbionts and demonstrated that these enigmatic nano‐sized archaea can be readily isolated in binary co‐cultures using an appropriate enrichment strategy. We discuss the implications of xylan degradation by halophiles in biotechnology and for the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

CITATION EXPORT

Violetta La Cono, Enzo Messina, Oleg Reva et al.. Nanohaloarchaea as beneficiaries of xylan degradation by haloarchaea. Microbial Biotechnology. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14272

AUTHORS

18 · 11 CENTRES

Violetta La Cono, Enzo Messina, Oleg Reva, Francesco Smedile, Gina La Spada, Francesca Crisafi, Laura Marturano, Noa Miguez, Manuel Ferrer, Elena A. Selivanova, Olga V. Golyshina, Peter N. Golyshin, Manfred Rohde, Mart Krupovic, Alexander Y. Merkel, Dimitry Y. Sorokin, John E. Hallsworth, Michail M. Yakimov

1 Institute of Polar Research, ISP‐CNR Messina Italy
2 National Council of Research, CNR Rome Italy
3 Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology University of Pretoria Pretoria South Africa
4 Instituto de Catalisis y Petroleoquimica (ICP), CSIC Madrid Spain
5 Institute for Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences Orenburg Russia
6 School of Biological Sciences Bangor University Bangor UK
7 Central Facility for Microbiology Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research Braunschweig Germany
8 Institut Pasteur Université Paris Cité, Archaeal Virology Unit Paris France
9 Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology Research Centre of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow Russia
10 Department of Biotechnology Delft University of Technology Delft The Netherlands
11 Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Northern Ireland UK