Comparative genomics: Dominant coral-bacterium <i>Endozoicomonas acroporae</i> metabolizes dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP)
Kshitij Tandon, Chih-Ying Lu, Pei‐Wen Chiang, Naohisa Wada, Shan‐Hua Yang, Ya‐Fan Chan, Ping-Yun Chen, Hsiao-Yu Chang, Yu‐Jing Chiou, Ming-Shean Chou, Wenming Chen, Sen‐Lin Tang
Abstract
Abstract Dominant coral-associated Endozoicomonas bacteria species are hypothesized to play a role in the coral sulfur cycle by metabolizing dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) into dimethylsulfide (DMS); however, no sequenced genome to date harbors genes for this process. In this study, we assembled high-quality (&gt;95% complete) draft genomes of strains of the recently added species Endozoicomonas acroporae (Acr-14T, Acr-1, and Acr-5) isolated from the coral Acropora sp. and performed a comparative genomic analysis on the genus Endozoicomonas. We identified DMSP CoA-transferase/lyase—a dddD gene homolog in all sequenced genomes of E. acroporae strains—and functionally characterized bacteria capable of metabolizing DMSP into DMS via the DddD cleavage pathway using RT-qPCR and gas chromatography (GC). Furthermore, we demonstrated that E. acroporae strains can use DMSP as a carbon source and have genes arranged in an operon-like manner to link DMSP metabolism to the central carbon cycle. This study confirms the role of Endozoicomonas in the coral sulfur cycle.