This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Grzymski, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Murray, A. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Grzymski, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Murray, A. E.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Grzymski, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Murray, A. E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1532-1541, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1532-1541.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Comparative Genomics of DNA Fragments from Six Antarctic Marine Planktonic Bacteria{dagger}

Joseph J. Grzymski,1 Brandon J. Carter,1 Edward F. DeLong,2 Robert A. Feldman,3,{ddagger} Amir Ghadiri,3 and Alison E. Murray1*

Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, Nevada 89512,1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139,2 Amersham Biosciences, 928 E. Argues Avenue, Sunnyvale, California 940863

Received 25 April 2005/ Accepted 8 November 2005

Six environmental fosmid clones from Antarctic coastal water bacterioplankton were completely sequenced. The genome fragments harbored small-subunit rRNA genes that were between 85 and 91% similar to those of their nearest cultivated relatives. The six fragments span four phyla, including the Gemmatimonadetes, Proteobacteria ({alpha} and {gamma}), Bacteroidetes, and high-G+C gram-positive bacteria. Gene-finding and annotation analyses identified 244 total open reading frames. Amino acid comparisons of 123 and 113 Antarctic bacterial amino acid sequences to mesophilic homologs from G+C-specific and SwissProt/UniProt databases, respectively, revealed widespread adaptation to the cold. The most significant changes in these Antarctic bacterial protein sequences included a reduction in salt-bridge-forming residues such as arginine, glutamic acid, and aspartic acid, reduced proline contents, and a reduction in stabilizing hydrophobic clusters. Stretches of disordered amino acids were significantly longer in the Antarctic sequences than in the mesophilic sequences. These characteristics were not specific to any one phylum, COG role category, or G+C content and imply that underlying genotypic and biochemical adaptations to the cold are inherent to life in the permanently subzero Antarctic waters.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512. Phone: (775) 673-7361. Fax: (775) 673-7485. E-mail: alison{at}dri.edu.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

{ddagger} Present address: Symbio Corporation, 1455 Adams Dr., Menlo Park, CA 94025.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2006, p. 1532-1541, Vol. 72, No. 2
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.2.1532-1541.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Konstantinidis, K. T., Braff, J., Karl, D. M., DeLong, E. F. (2009). Comparative Metagenomic Analysis of a Microbial Community Residing at a Depth of 4,000 Meters at Station ALOHA in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 5345-5355 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Burke, C., Kjelleberg, S., Thomas, T. (2009). Selective Extraction of Bacterial DNA from the Surfaces of Macroalgae. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 252-256 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Grzymski, J. J., Murray, A. E., Campbell, B. J., Kaplarevic, M., Gao, G. R., Lee, C., Daniel, R., Ghadiri, A., Feldman, R. A., Cary, S. C. (2008). Metagenome analysis of an extreme microbial symbiosis reveals eurythermal adaptation and metabolic flexibility. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 17516-17521 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Murray, A. E, Grzymski, J. J (2007). Diversity and genomics of Antarctic marine micro-organisms. Phil Trans R Soc B 362: 2259-2271 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Drees, K. P., Neilson, J. W., Betancourt, J. L., Quade, J., Henderson, D. A., Pryor, B. M., Maier, R. M. (2006). Bacterial Community Structure in the Hyperarid Core of the Atacama Desert, Chile. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 7902-7908 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»