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
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
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
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Martin-Cuadrado, A.-B.
Right arrow Articles by Rodriguez-Valera, F.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Martin-Cuadrado, A.-B.
Right arrow Articles by Rodriguez-Valera, F.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Martin-Cuadrado, A.-B.
Right arrow Articles by Rodriguez-Valera, F.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2009, p. 7436-7444, Vol. 75, No. 23
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01283-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

CO Dehydrogenase Genes Found in Metagenomic Fosmid Clones from the Deep Mediterranean Sea{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Ana-Belen Martin-Cuadrado, Rohit Ghai, Aitor Gonzaga, and Francisco Rodriguez-Valera*

Evolutionary Genomics Group, Departamento Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Spain

Received 3 June 2009/ Accepted 28 September 2009

The use of carbon monoxide (CO) as a biological energy source is widespread in microbes. In recent years, the role of CO oxidation in superficial ocean waters has been shown to be an important energy supplement for heterotrophs (carboxydovores). The key enzyme CO dehydrogenase was found in both isolates and metagenomes from the ocean's photic zone, where CO is continuously generated by organic matter photolysis. We have also found genes that code for both forms I (low affinity) and II (high affinity) in fosmids from a metagenomic library generated from a 3,000-m depth in the Mediterranean Sea. Analysis of other metagenomic databases indicates that similar genes are also found in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic North Pacific and on the surfaces of this and other oceanic locations (in lower proportions and similarities). The frequency with which this gene was found indicates that this energy-generating metabolism would be at least as important in the bathypelagic habitat as it is in the photic zone. Although there are no data about CO concentrations or origins deep in the ocean, it could have a geothermal origin or be associated with anaerobic metabolism of organic matter. The identities of the microbes that carry out these processes were not established, but they seem to be representatives of either Bacteroidetes or Chloroflexi.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Evolutionary Genomics Group, Departamento Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández, San Juan de Alicante, Spain. Phone: 34 965 919451. Fax: 34 965919576. E-mail: frvalera{at}umh.es

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 2 October 2009.

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

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2009, p. 7436-7444, Vol. 75, No. 23
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01283-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2010 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»