Ecophysiology of Freshwater Verrucomicrobia Inferred from Metagenome-Assembled Genomes

Authors: Shaomei He, Sarah Stevens, Leong‐Keat Chan, Stefan Bertilsson, Tijana Glavina del Rio, Susannah G. Tringe, Rex R. Malmstrom, Katherine D. McMahon - mSphere 2017 cited by 137

Freshwater Verrucomicrobia spp. are cosmopolitan in lakes and rivers, and yet their roles and ecophysiology are not well understood, as cultured freshwater Verrucomicrobia spp. are restricted to one subdivision of this phylum. Here, we greatly expanded the known genomic diversity of this freshwater lineage by recovering 19 Verrucomicrobia draft genomes from 184 metagenomes collected from a eutrophic lake and a humic bog across multiple years. Most of these genomes represent the first freshwater representatives of several Verrucomicrobia subdivisions. Genomic analysis revealed Verrucomicrobia to be potential (poly)saccharide degraders and suggested their adaptation to carbon sources of different origins in the two contrasting ecosystems. We identified putative extracellular electron transfer genes and so-called “ Planctomycete -specific” cytochrome c -encoding genes and identified their distinct distribution patterns between the lakes/layers. Overall, our analysis greatly advances the understanding of the function, ecophysiology, and distribution of freshwater Verrucomicrobia , while highlighting their potential role in freshwater carbon cycling.