Two intracellular and cell type-specific bacterial symbionts in the placozoan Trichoplax H2

Placozoa is an enigmatic phylum of simple, microscopic, marine metazoans(1,2). Although intracellular bacteria have been found in all members of this phylum, almost nothing is known about their identity, location and interactions with their host(3-6). We used metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing of single host individuals, plus metaproteomic and imaging analyses, to show that the placozoan Trichoplax sp. H2 lives in symbiosis with two intracellular bacteria. One symbiont forms an undescribed genus in the Midichloriaceae (Rickettsiales)(7,8) and has a genomic repertoire similar to that of rickettsial parasites(9,10), but does not seem to express key genes for energy parasitism. Correlative image analyses and three-dimensional electron tomography revealed that this symbiont resides in the rough endoplasmic reticulum of its host's internal fibre cells. The second symbiont belongs to the Margulisbacteria, a phylum without cultured representatives and not known to form intracellular associations(11-13). This symbiont lives in the ventral epithelial cells of Trichoplax, probably metabolizes algal lipids digested by its host and has the capacity to supplement the placozoan's nutrition. Our study shows that one of the simplest animals has evolved highly specific and intimate associations with symbiotic, intracellular bacteria and highlights that symbioses can provide access to otherwise elusive microbial dark matter

Determination of Abundant Metabolite Matrix Adducts Illuminates the Dark Metabolome of MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging Datasets

: Spatial metabolomics using mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a powerful tool to map hundreds to thousands of metabolites in biological systems. One major challenge in MSI is the annotation of m/z values, which is substantially complicated by background ions introduced throughout the chemicals and equipment used during experimental procedures. Among many factors, the formation of adducts with sodium or potassium ions, or in case of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI)- MSI, the presence of abundant matrix clusters strongly increases total m/z peak counts. Currently, there is a limitation to identify the chemistry of the many unknown peaks to interpret their biological function. We took advantage of the co-localization of adducts with their parent ions and the accuracy of high mass resolution to estimate adduct abundance in 20 datasets from different vendors of mass spectrometers. Metabolites ranging from lipids to amines and amino acids form matrix adducts with the commonly used 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) matrix like [M + (DHB-H2O) + H]+ and [M + DHB + Na]+ . Current data analyses neglect those matrix adducts and overestimate total metabolite numbers, thereby expanding the number of unidentified peaks. Our study demonstrates that MALDI-MSI data are strongly influenced by adduct formation across different sample types and vendor platforms and reveals a major influence of so far unrecognized metabolite−matrix adducts on total peak counts (up to one third). We developed a software package, mass2adduct, for the community for an automated putative assignment and quantification of metabolite−matrix adducts enabling users to ultimately focus on the biologically relevant portion of the MSI data

Connecting structure and function from organisms to molecules in small-animal symbioses through chemo-histo-tomography

Our understanding of metabolic interactions between small symbi-otic animals and bacteria or parasitic eukaryotes that reside within their bodies is extremely limited. This gap in knowledge originates from a methodological challenge, namely to connect histologi -cal changes in host tissues induced by beneficial and parasitic (micro)organisms to the underlying metabolites. We addressed this challenge and developed chemo-histo-tomography (CHEMHIST), a culture-independent approach to connect anatomic structure and metabolic function in millimeter-sized symbiotic animals. CHEMHIST combines chemical imaging of metabolites based on mass spectrom-etry imaging (MSI) and microanatomy-based micro-computed X-ray tomography (micro-CT) on the same animal. Both high-resolution MSI and micro-CT allowed us to correlate the distribution of metab-olites to the same animal's three-dimensional (3D) histology down to submicrometer resolutions. Our protocol is compatible with tissue-specific DNA sequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridiza-tion for the taxonomic identification and localization of the associ-ated micro(organisms). Building CHEMHIST upon in situ imaging, we sampled an earthworm from its natural habitat and created an in-teractive 3D model of its physical and chemical interactions with bacteria and parasitic nematodes in its tissues. Combining MSI and micro-CT, we present a methodological groundwork for connecting metabolic and anatomic phenotypes of small symbiotic animals that often represent keystone species for ecosystem functioning

Statistical correlations between NMR spectroscopy and direct infusion FT-ICR mass spectrometry aid annotation of unknowns in metabolomics

NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry are the two major analytical platforms for metabolomics, and both generate substantial data with hundreds to thousands of observed peaks for a single sample. Many of these are unknown, and peak assignment is generally complex and time-consuming. Statistical correlations between data types have proven useful in expediting this process, for example, in prioritizing candidate assignments. However, this approach has not been formally assessed for the comparison of direct-infusion mass spectrometry (DIMS) and NMR data. Here, we present a systematic analysis of a sample set (tissue extracts), and the utility of a simple correlation threshold to aid metabolite identification. The correlations were surprisingly successful in linking structurally related signals, with 15 of 26 NMR-detectable metabolites having their highest correlation to a cognate MS ion. However, we found that the distribution of the correlations was highly dependent on the nature of the MS ion, such as the adduct type. This approach should help to alleviate this important bottleneck where both 1D NMR and DIMS data sets have been collected

Sulfur-Oxidizing Symbionts without Canonical Genes for Autotrophic CO2 Fixation

Many animals and protists depend on symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria as their main food source. These bacteria use energy from oxidizing inorganic sulfur compounds to make biomass autotrophically from CO2, serving as primary producers for their hosts. Here we describe a clade of nonautotrophic sulfur-oxidizing symbionts, “Candidatus Kentron,” associated with marine ciliates. They lack genes for known autotrophic pathways and have a carbon stable isotope fingerprint heavier than other symbionts from similar habitats. Instead, they have the potential to oxidize sulfur to fuel the uptake of organic compounds for heterotrophic growth, a metabolic mode called chemolithoheterotrophy that is not found in other symbioses. Although several symbionts have heterotrophic features to supplement primary production, in Kentron they appear to supplant it entirely.Since the discovery of symbioses between sulfur-oxidizing (thiotrophic) bacteria and invertebrates at hydrothermal vents over 40 years ago, it has been assumed that autotrophic fixation of CO2 by the symbionts drives these nutritional associations. In this study, we investigated “Candidatus Kentron,” the clade of symbionts hosted by Kentrophoros, a diverse genus of ciliates which are found in marine coastal sediments around the world. Despite being the main food source for their hosts, Kentron bacteria lack the key canonical genes for any of the known pathways for autotrophic carbon fixation and have a carbon stable isotope fingerprint that is unlike other thiotrophic symbionts from similar habitats. Our genomic and transcriptomic analyses instead found metabolic features consistent with growth on organic carbon, especially organic and amino acids, for which they have abundant uptake transporters. All known thiotrophic symbionts have converged on using reduced sulfur to gain energy lithotrophically, but they are diverse in their carbon sources. Some clades are obligate autotrophs, while many are mixotrophs that can supplement autotrophic carbon fixation with heterotrophic capabilities similar to those in Kentron. Here we show that Kentron bacteria are the only thiotrophic symbionts that appear to be entirely heterotrophic, unlike all other thiotrophic symbionts studied to date, which possess either the Calvin-Benson-Bassham or the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle for autotrophy

Diverse methylotrophic methanogenic archaea cause high methane emissions from seagrass meadows

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Schorn, S., Ahmerkamp, S., Bullock, E., Weber, M., Lott, C., Liebeke, M., Lavik, G., Kuypers, M. M. M., Graf, J. S., & Milucka, J. Diverse methylotrophic methanogenic archaea cause high methane emissions from seagrass meadows. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(9), (2022): e2106628119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106628119.Marine coastlines colonized by seagrasses are a net source of methane to the atmosphere. However, methane emissions from these environments are still poorly constrained, and the underlying processes and responsible microorganisms remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated methane turnover in seagrass meadows of Posidonia oceanica in the Mediterranean Sea. The underlying sediments exhibited median net fluxes of methane into the water column of ca. 106 µmol CH4 ⋅ m−2 ⋅ d−1. Our data show that this methane production was sustained by methylated compounds produced by the plant, rather than by fermentation of buried organic carbon. Interestingly, methane production was maintained long after the living plant died off, likely due to the persistence of methylated compounds, such as choline, betaines, and dimethylsulfoniopropionate, in detached plant leaves and rhizomes. We recovered multiple mcrA gene sequences, encoding for methyl-coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), the key methanogenic enzyme, from the seagrass sediments. Most retrieved mcrA gene sequences were affiliated with a clade of divergent Mcr and belonged to the uncultured Candidatus Helarchaeota of the Asgard superphylum, suggesting a possible involvement of these divergent Mcr in methane metabolism. Taken together, our findings identify the mechanisms controlling methane emissions from these important blue carbon ecosystems.This project was funded by theMax Planck Society

Sugars dominate the seagrass rhizosphere

Seagrasses are among the most efficient sinks of carbon dioxide on Earth. While carbon sequestration in terrestrial plants is linked to the microorganisms living in their soils, the interactions of seagrasses with their rhizospheres are poorly understood. Here, we show that the seagrass, Posidonia oceanica excretes sugars, mainly sucrose, into its rhizosphere. These sugars accumulate to mu M concentrations-nearly 80 times higher than previously observed in marine environments. This finding is unexpected as sugars are readily consumed by microorganisms. Our experiments indicated that under low oxygen conditions, phenolic compounds from P. oceanica inhibited microbial consumption of sucrose. Analyses of the rhizosphere community revealed that many microbes had the genes for degrading sucrose but these were only expressed by a few taxa that also expressed genes for degrading phenolics. Given that we observed high sucrose concentrations underneath three other species of marine plants, we predict that the presence of plant-produced phenolics under low oxygen conditions allows the accumulation of labile molecules across aquatic rhizospheres. Seagrass meadows are important carbon sinks. Here, the authors show that organic carbon in the form of simple sugars can accumulate at high concentrations in seagrass rhizospheres because plant phenolic compounds inhibit their consumption by microorganisms

Unique metabolites protect earthworms against plant polyphenols

All higher plants produce polyphenols, for defence against above-ground herbivory. These polyphenols also influence the soil micro- and macro-fauna that break down plant leaf litter. Polyphenols therefore indirectly affect the fluxes of soil nutrients and, ultimately, carbon turnover and ecosystem functioning in soils. It is unknown how earthworms, the major component of animal biomass in many soils, cope with high-polyphenol diets. Here, we show that earthworms possess a class of unique surface-active metabolites in their gut, which we term ‘drilodefensins’. These compounds counteract the inhibitory effects of polyphenols on earthworm gut enzymes, and high-polyphenol diets increase drilodefensin concentrations in both laboratory and field populations. This shows that drilodefensins protect earthworms from the harmful effects of ingested polyphenols. We have identified the key mechanism for adaptation to a dietary challenge in an animal group that has a major role in organic matter recycling in soils worldwide

“Candidatus Ethanoperedens,” a Thermophilic Genus of Archaea Mediating the Anaerobic Oxidation of Ethane

Cold seeps and hydrothermal vents deliver large amounts of methane and other gaseous alkanes into marine surface sediments. Consortia of archaea and partner bacteria thrive on the oxidation of these alkanes and its coupling to sulfate reduction. The inherently slow growth of the involved organisms and the lack of pure cultures have impeded the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of ar-chaeal alkane degradation. Here, using hydrothermal sediments of the Guaymas Basin (Gulf of California) and ethane as the substrate, we cultured microbial consortia of a novel anaerobic ethane oxidizer, “Candidatus Ethanoperedens thermophilum” (GoM-Arc1 clade), and its partner bacterium “Candidatus Desulfofervidus auxilii,” previously known from methane-oxidizing consortia. The sulfate reduction activity of the culture doubled within one week, indicating a much faster growth than in any other alkane-oxidizing archaea described before. The dominance of a single archaeal phylotype in this culture allowed retrieval of a closed genome of “Ca. Ethanopere-dens,” a sister genus of the recently reported ethane oxidizer “Candidatus Argoar-chaeum.” The metagenome-assembled genome of “Ca. Ethanoperedens” encoded a complete methanogenesis pathway including a methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) that is highly divergent from those of methanogens and methanotrophs. Combined substrate and metabolite analysis showed ethane as the sole growth substrate and production of ethyl-coenzyme M as the activation product. Stable isotope probing demonstrated that the enzymatic mechanism of ethane oxidation in “Ca. Ethanope-redens” is fully reversible; thus, its enzymatic machinery has potential for the bio-technological development of microbial ethane production from carbon dioxide. IMPORTANCE In the seabed, gaseous alkanes are oxidized by syntrophic microbial consortia that thereby reduce fluxes of these compounds into the water column. Because of the immense quantities of seabed alkane fluxes, these consortia are key catalysts of the global carbon cycle. Due to their obligate syntrophic lifestyle, the physiology of alkane-degrading archaea remains poorly understood. We have now cultivated a thermophilic, relatively fast-growing ethane oxidizer in partnership with a sulfate-reducing bacterium known to aid in methane oxidation and have retrieved the first complete genome of a short-chain alkane-degrading archaeon. This will greatly enhance the understanding of nonmethane alkane activation by noncanoni-cal methyl-coenzyme M reductase enzymes and provide insights into additional metabolic steps and the mechanisms underlying syntrophic partnerships. Ultimately, this knowledge could lead to the biotechnological development of alkanogenic microorganisms to support the carbon neutrality of industrial processes

Hunting the eagle killer: A cyanobacterial neurotoxin causes vacuolar myelinopathy

Vacuolar myelinopathy is a fatal neurological disease that was initially discovered during a mysterious mass mortality of bald eagles in Arkansas in the United States. The cause of this wildlife disease has eluded scientists for decades while its occurrence has continued to spread throughout freshwater reservoirs in the southeastern United States. Recent studies have demonstrated that vacuolar myelinopathy is induced by consumption of the epiphytic cyanobacterial species Aetokthonos hydrillicola growing on aquatic vegetation, primarily the invasive Hydrilla verticillata. Here, we describe the identification, biosynthetic gene cluster, and biological activity of aetokthonotoxin, a pentabrominated biindole alkaloid that is produced by the cyanobacterium A. hydrillicola. We identify this cyanobacterial neurotoxin as the causal agent of vacuolar myelinopathy and discuss environmental factors-especially bromide availability-that promote toxin production