Abundant and active community members respond to diel cycles in hot spring phototrophic mats.

Photosynthetic microbial mats in hot springs can provide insights into the diel behaviors of communities in extreme environments. In this habitat, photosynthesis dominates during the day, leading to super-oxic conditions, with a rapid transition to fermentation and anoxia at night. Multiple samples were collected from two springs over several years to generate metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets.

Draft genome of s sp. MS-CIW-1, of the sp. MS-G group from Mushroom Spring, Yellowstone National Park.

sp. MS-CIW-1 was isolated from a phototrophic mat in Mushroom Spring, an alkaline hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA. We report the draft genome of 4.

Differential Phototactic Behavior of Closely Related Cyanobacterial Isolates from Yellowstone Hot Spring Biofilms.

Phototrophic biofilms in most environments experience major changes in light levels throughout a diel cycle. Phototaxis can be a useful strategy for optimizing light exposure under these conditions, but little is known about its role in cyanobacteria from thermal springs. We examined two closely related isolates ( OS-A dominates at 60 to 65°C and OS-B' at 50 to 55°C) from outflows of Octopus Spring in Yellowstone National Park.

Sharing vitamins: Cobamides unveil microbial interactions.

Microbial communities are essential to fundamental processes on Earth. Underlying the compositions and functions of these communities are nutritional interdependencies among individual species. One class of nutrients, cobamides (the family of enzyme cofactors that includes vitamin B), is widely used for a variety of microbial metabolic functions, but these structurally diverse cofactors are synthesized by only a subset of bacteria and archaea.

Flexible Cobamide Metabolism in () 630 Δ.

() is an opportunistic pathogen known for its ability to colonize the human gut under conditions of dysbiosis. Several aspects of its carbon and amino acid metabolism have been investigated, but its cobamide (vitamin B and related cofactors) metabolism remains largely unexplored. has seven predicted cobamide-dependent pathways encoded in its genome in addition to a nearly complete cobamide biosynthesis pathway and a cobamide uptake system.

Uneven distribution of cobamide biosynthesis and dependence in bacteria predicted by comparative genomics.

The vitamin B family of cofactors known as cobamides are essential for a variety of microbial metabolisms. We used comparative genomics of 11,000 bacterial species to analyze the extent and distribution of cobamide production and use across bacteria. We find that 86% of bacteria in this data set have at least one of 15 cobamide-dependent enzyme families, but only 37% are predicted to synthesize cobamides de novo.