Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential
ABSTRACT DPANN archaea have characteristically small cells and unique genomes that were long overlooked in diversity surveys. Their reduced genomes often lack essential metabolic pathways, requiring symbiotic relationships with other archaeal and bacterial hosts for survival. Yet a long-standing que...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Society for Microbiology
2024-10-01
|
| Series: | mBio |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.00347-24 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850184160204816384 |
|---|---|
| author | Brett J. Baker Natalie Sarno |
| author_facet | Brett J. Baker Natalie Sarno |
| author_sort | Brett J. Baker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT DPANN archaea have characteristically small cells and unique genomes that were long overlooked in diversity surveys. Their reduced genomes often lack essential metabolic pathways, requiring symbiotic relationships with other archaeal and bacterial hosts for survival. Yet a long-standing question remains, what is the advantage of maintaining ultrasmall cells. A recent study by Zhang et al. examined genomes of DPANN archaea from marine oxygen deficient zones (ODZs) (I. H. Zhang, B. Borer, R. Zhao, S. Wilbert, et al., mBio 15:e02918-23, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02918-23). Surprisingly, these genomes contain a broad array of metabolic pathways including genes predicted to be involved in nitrous oxide (N2O) reduction. However, N2O levels are likely too low in ODZs to make this metabolically feasible. Modeling co-localization of DPANN archaea (N2O consumers) with other larger cells (N2O producers) demonstrates that N2O uptake rates can be optimized by maximizing the producer-to-consumer size ratio and proximity of consumer cells to producers. This may explain why such a diversity of archaea maintain extremely small cell sizes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c36c04c100244111b0dbbed1f3f0d37b |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2150-7511 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | mBio |
| spelling | doaj-art-c36c04c100244111b0dbbed1f3f0d37b2025-08-20T02:17:06ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologymBio2150-75112024-10-01151010.1128/mbio.00347-24Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potentialBrett J. Baker0Natalie Sarno1Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USADepartment of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USAABSTRACT DPANN archaea have characteristically small cells and unique genomes that were long overlooked in diversity surveys. Their reduced genomes often lack essential metabolic pathways, requiring symbiotic relationships with other archaeal and bacterial hosts for survival. Yet a long-standing question remains, what is the advantage of maintaining ultrasmall cells. A recent study by Zhang et al. examined genomes of DPANN archaea from marine oxygen deficient zones (ODZs) (I. H. Zhang, B. Borer, R. Zhao, S. Wilbert, et al., mBio 15:e02918-23, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02918-23). Surprisingly, these genomes contain a broad array of metabolic pathways including genes predicted to be involved in nitrous oxide (N2O) reduction. However, N2O levels are likely too low in ODZs to make this metabolically feasible. Modeling co-localization of DPANN archaea (N2O consumers) with other larger cells (N2O producers) demonstrates that N2O uptake rates can be optimized by maximizing the producer-to-consumer size ratio and proximity of consumer cells to producers. This may explain why such a diversity of archaea maintain extremely small cell sizes.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.00347-24DPANN archaeaoxygen deficient zonesmarine nutrientsArchaeametagenomicsnitrogen cycling |
| spellingShingle | Brett J. Baker Natalie Sarno Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential mBio DPANN archaea oxygen deficient zones marine nutrients Archaea metagenomics nitrogen cycling |
| title | Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential |
| title_full | Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential |
| title_fullStr | Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential |
| title_full_unstemmed | Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential |
| title_short | Small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential |
| title_sort | small archaea may form intimate partnerships to maximize their metabolic potential |
| topic | DPANN archaea oxygen deficient zones marine nutrients Archaea metagenomics nitrogen cycling |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.00347-24 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brettjbaker smallarchaeamayformintimatepartnershipstomaximizetheirmetabolicpotential AT nataliesarno smallarchaeamayformintimatepartnershipstomaximizetheirmetabolicpotential |