I thought a few people here would find this paper I came across interesting. For two seconds of background, 99% of microbes are uncultureable and therefore cant be identified by standard techniques. Now people just take mass sequences of DNA and run them against a database to identify gene function and assign taxonomy.
Nature 443, 950-955 (26 October 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature05192; Received 5 May 2006; Accepted 29 August 2006; Published online 17 September 2006; Corrected 26 October 2006
Symbiosis insights through metagenomic analysis of a microbial consortium
Tanja Woyke1,2, Hanno Teeling3, Natalia N. Ivanova1, Marcel Huntemann3, Michael Richter3, Frank Oliver Gloeckner3,4, Dario Boffelli1,2, Iain J. Anderson1, Kerrie W. Barry1, Harris J. Shapiro1, Ernest Szeto1, Nikos C. Kyrpides1, Marc Mussmann3, Rudolf Amann3, Claudia Bergin3, Caroline Ruehland3, Edward M. Rubin1,2 & Nicole Dubilier3
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Abstract
Symbioses between bacteria and eukaryotes are ubiquitous, yet our understanding of the interactions driving these associations is hampered by our inability to cultivate most host-associated microbes. Here we use a metagenomic approach to describe four co-occurring symbionts from the marine oligochaete Olavius algarvensis, a worm lacking a mouth, gut and nephridia. Shotgun sequencing and metabolic pathway reconstruction revealed that the symbionts are sulphur-oxidizing and sulphate-reducing bacteria, all of which are capable of carbon fixation, thus providing the host with multiple sources of nutrition. Molecular evidence for the uptake and recycling of worm waste products by the symbionts suggests how the worm could eliminate its excretory system, an adaptation unique among annelid worms. We propose a model that describes how the versatile metabolism within this symbiotic consortium provides the host with an optimal energy supply as it shuttles between the upper oxic and lower anoxic coastal sediments that it inhabits.
Nature 443, 950-955 (26 October 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature05192; Received 5 May 2006; Accepted 29 August 2006; Published online 17 September 2006; Corrected 26 October 2006
Symbiosis insights through metagenomic analysis of a microbial consortium
Tanja Woyke1,2, Hanno Teeling3, Natalia N. Ivanova1, Marcel Huntemann3, Michael Richter3, Frank Oliver Gloeckner3,4, Dario Boffelli1,2, Iain J. Anderson1, Kerrie W. Barry1, Harris J. Shapiro1, Ernest Szeto1, Nikos C. Kyrpides1, Marc Mussmann3, Rudolf Amann3, Claudia Bergin3, Caroline Ruehland3, Edward M. Rubin1,2 & Nicole Dubilier3
Top of page
Abstract
Symbioses between bacteria and eukaryotes are ubiquitous, yet our understanding of the interactions driving these associations is hampered by our inability to cultivate most host-associated microbes. Here we use a metagenomic approach to describe four co-occurring symbionts from the marine oligochaete Olavius algarvensis, a worm lacking a mouth, gut and nephridia. Shotgun sequencing and metabolic pathway reconstruction revealed that the symbionts are sulphur-oxidizing and sulphate-reducing bacteria, all of which are capable of carbon fixation, thus providing the host with multiple sources of nutrition. Molecular evidence for the uptake and recycling of worm waste products by the symbionts suggests how the worm could eliminate its excretory system, an adaptation unique among annelid worms. We propose a model that describes how the versatile metabolism within this symbiotic consortium provides the host with an optimal energy supply as it shuttles between the upper oxic and lower anoxic coastal sediments that it inhabits.
