Enhygromyxa salina
Enhygromyxa salina is a species of marine myxobacteria. Like other members of this order, E. salina is a rod-shaped Gram-negative bacterium that can move by gliding and can form aggregates of cells called fruiting bodies. E. salina is slightly halophilic (salt-tolerant) and can grow at lower temperatures than other marine myxobacteria.[1] Several novel secondary metabolites have been identified in the species, including unusual sterols (which are rarely produced by prokaryotes at all). The species was first described in 2003, based on six strains isolated from samples collected from the coastlines of Japan.[1]
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Enhygromyxa salina | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | |
Phylum: | |
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Family: | Nannocystaceae |
Genus: | Enhygromyxa |
Species: | E. salina |
Binomial name | |
Enhygromyxa salina | |
Characteristics and morphology
E. salina cells are straight, rod-shaped, and have blunt ends. Like other myxobacteria, groups of cells can form round fruiting bodies. The species is an obligate aerobe and a chemoorganotroph. Cells are motile and move by gliding. The species is mesophilic and grew best under laboratory conditions in a temperature range of 5-34C, neutral to slightly basic pH and salinity similar to that of seawater, making it slightly halophilic. Compared to other marine myxobacteria, E. salina tolerates lower temperatures. E. salina cells require sodium to grow, as expected for marine bacteria.[1]
Taxonomy
E. salina is the type species and only member of the genus Enhygromyxa, both first described in the same 2003 study. Based on comparisons of the E. salina 16S rRNA genetic sequence to those of other similar organisms, it is most closely related to Plesiocystis pacifica, another marine myxobacterial species also described in 2003 by the same research team.[3] The genus name Enhygromyxa derives from the Greek words enhygro (implying life in moist conditions) and myxa (slime). The specific epithet refers to the species' salt tolerance.[1]
Metabolism
E. salina is a chemoorganotrophic predatory bacterium and can derive energy from decomposing living Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli.[1][4] It is an aerobe that uses the menaquinone MK-7 in its electron transport chain.[1]
Marine myxobacteria are relatively uncommon compared to terrestrial myxobacteria. Studies of the salt adaptation of marine myxobacteria have found that P pacifica accumulates exogenous amino acids from its environment as osmoprotectants, in contrast with E. salina, which expresses genes for the synthesis of endogenously produced betaine, ectoine, and hydroxyectoine.[4]
Myxobacteria are known for their ability to produce diverse natural products as secondary metabolites, though terrestrial members of the group are much better characterized than marine myxobacteria.[5][6][7] Several types of unusual secondary metabolites have been isolated from E. salina cultures. One class, given the name salimyxins, is composed of incisterols, a rare class of natural products with a spotty phylogenetic distribution; production of any type of sterol is rare for prokaryotic organisms.[5] Another class of natural products isolated from E. salina was termed enhygrolides and are chemically related to compounds known from cyanobacteria of the genus Nostoc.[5] A third compound, salinabromide, was found to possess a novel carbon skeleton not related to known natural products. It is believed to be synthesized through polyketide synthase and halogenase enzymes.[6]
Genome
Myxobacterial genomes typically have high GC content; in E. salina the GC content is 66-67%, slightly lower than its closest relative P. pacifica.
The E. salina genome contains genes with distant sequence similarity to known polyketide synthase genes, often responsible for unusual secondary metabolites with antibiotic activity.[6][8] In particular, likely halogenases and polyketide synthase III genes have been bioinformatically identified; the latter is unusual in that it primarily is known from plant genomes.[6] Several additional uncharacterized gene clusters with synthetic potential have since been bioinformatically identified.[7]
References
- Iizuka, Takashi; Jojima, Yasuko; Fudou, Ryosuke; Tokura, Mitsunori; Hiraishi, Akira; Yamanaka, Shigeru (January 2003). "Enhygromyxa salina gen. nov., sp. nov., a Slightly Halophilic Myxobacterium Isolated from the Coastal Areas of Japan". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 26 (2): 189–196. doi:10.1078/072320203322346038. PMID 12866845.
- "Enhygromyxa". List of Prokaryotic Names with Standing in Nomenclature.
- Iizuka, T. (1 January 2003). "Plesiocystis pacifica gen. nov., sp. nov., a marine myxobacterium that contains dihydrogenated menaquinone, isolated from the Pacific coasts of Japan". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 53 (1): 189–195. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.02418-0. PMID 12656172.
- Schäberle, Till F.; Galinski, Erwin A.; Boehringer, Nils; Moghaddam, Jamshid Amiri; Kunte, Hans-Jörg; Burdziak, Amal (1 April 2016). "Different strategies of osmoadaptation in the closely related marine myxobacteria Enhygromyxa salina SWB007 and Plesiocystis pacifica SIR-1". Microbiology. 162 (4): 651–661. doi:10.1099/mic.0.000250. PMID 26842314.
- Felder, Stephan; Kehraus, Stefan; Neu, Edith; Bierbaum, Gabriele; Schäberle, Till F.; König, Gabriele M. (22 July 2013). "Salimyxins and Enhygrolides: Antibiotic, Sponge-Related Metabolites from the Obligate Marine Myxobacterium". ChemBioChem. 14 (11): 1363–1371. doi:10.1002/cbic.201300268. PMID 23794290.
- Felder, Stephan; Dreisigacker, Sandra; Kehraus, Stefan; Neu, Edith; Bierbaum, Gabriele; Wright, Patrick R.; Menche, Dirk; Schäberle, Till F.; König, Gabriele M. (8 July 2013). "Salimabromide: Unexpected Chemistry from the Obligate Marine Myxobacterium Enhygromyxa salina". Chemistry - A European Journal. 19 (28): 9319–9324. doi:10.1002/chem.201301379.
- Dávila-Céspedes, Antonio; Hufendiek, Peter; Crüsemann, Max; Schäberle, Till F; König, Gabriele M (13 May 2016). "Marine-derived myxobacteria of the suborder Nannocystineae: An underexplored source of structurally intriguing and biologically active metabolites". Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. 12: 969–984. doi:10.3762/bjoc.12.96. PMC 4902002. PMID 27340488.
- Schäberle, Till F.; Goralski, Emilie; Neu, Edith; Erol, Özlem; Hölzl, Georg; Dörmann, Peter; Bierbaum, Gabriele; König, Gabriele M. (3 September 2010). "Marine Myxobacteria as a Source of Antibiotics—Comparison of Physiology, Polyketide-Type Genes and Antibiotic Production of Three New Isolates of Enhygromyxa salina". Marine Drugs. 8 (9): 2466–2479. doi:10.3390/md8092466. PMC 2953396. PMID 20948900.