A Genus in the Bacterial Phylum Aquificota Appears to Be Endemic to Aotearoa-New Zealand

Date
2024-01-02
Authors
Power, JF
Carere, CR
Welford, HE
Hudson, DT
Lee, KC
Moreau, JW
Ettema, TJG
Reysenbach, AL
Lee, CK
Colman, DR
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract

Allopatric speciation has been difficult to examine among microorganisms, with prior reports of endemism restricted to sub-genus level taxa. Previous microbial community analysis via 16S rRNA gene sequencing of 925 geothermal springs from the Taupō Volcanic Zone (TVZ), Aotearoa-New Zealand, revealed widespread distribution and abundance of a single bacterial genus across 686 of these ecosystems (pH 1.2-9.6 and 17.4-99.8 °C). Here, we present evidence to suggest that this genus, Venenivibrio (phylum Aquificota), is endemic to Aotearoa-New Zealand. A specific environmental niche that increases habitat isolation was identified, with maximal read abundance of Venenivibrio occurring at pH 4-6, 50-70 °C, and low oxidation-reduction potentials. This was further highlighted by genomic and culture-based analyses of the only characterised species for the genus, Venenivibrio stagnispumantis CP.B2T, which confirmed a chemolithoautotrophic metabolism dependent on hydrogen oxidation. While similarity between Venenivibrio populations illustrated that dispersal is not limited across the TVZ, extensive amplicon, metagenomic, and phylogenomic analyses of global microbial communities from DNA sequence databases indicates Venenivibrio is geographically restricted to the Aotearoa-New Zealand archipelago. We conclude that geographic isolation, complemented by physicochemical constraints, has resulted in the establishment of an endemic bacterial genus.

Description
Keywords
3107 Microbiology , 31 Biological Sciences , 3103 Ecology , 3105 Genetics , Biotechnology , Infection
Source
Nature Communications, ISSN: 2041-1723 (Print); 2041-1723 (Online), Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 15(1), 179-. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43960-2
Rights statement
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.