Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is an archaea in the genus Methanocaldococcus. It is an anaerobic, piezophilic, diazotrophic, hyperthermophilic marine archaeon. This strain is notable for fixing nitrogen at the highest known temperature of nitrogen fixers recorded to date. The 16S rRNA gene of Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22, is almost 100% similar to that of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, a non-nitrogen fixer.

Discovery and isolation Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 was isolated from deep-sea hydrothermal vent fluid. Hydrothermal vents are located on the ocean floor where plates are moving tectonically apart, for example volcano sites and by mid ocean ridges. These mid ocean ridges provide a large supply of food for aquatic marine animals. The particular vent that strain FS406-22 was isolated from, is located on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the Pacific Ocean near volcanic activity. Mausmi P. Mehta and John A. Baross isolated strain FS406-22 in September 2004 during the New Millennium Observatory cruise. The Thomas G. Thompson vessel made this cruise possible and journeyed off to the Axial Volcano. A remotely operated vehicle (ROPOS) sampled vent fluid from marker 113 using a hydrothermal fluid and particle sampler (HFPS). Marker 113 is a vent located at 1525 meters deep in the southeast corner of the caldera. This vent was active before the last eruption of Axial Volcano in January 1998.

Characteristics

Ecology Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is a deep sea marine Archean. It is a hyperthermophilic methanogen that fixes nitrogen. Strain FS405-22 grows at an optimal temperature of 92 °C, allowing it to thrive near volcanoes. Strain FS406-22 prefers to inhabit specifically hydrothermal vents on the deep sea floor. Lastly, this marine archaean does not sporulate.

Morphology This particular strain of Methanocaldococcus is cocci in shape. FS406-22 is gram negative and is not pathogenic to humans. Strain FS406-22 is a free-living marine archaean and motile via flagella.

Physiology and metabolism Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is an anaerobic marine archaean that is able to fix nitrogen at extreme depths. Being a hyperthermophilic extremophile, it lives in an extremely hot environment for example, a hydrothermal vent, which can range anywhere from 75 °C to 110 °C. Strain FS406-22 is also a piezophilic, diazotrophic, lithotroph. It has an anaerobic metabolism, nitrogen-fixing metabolism, and is methanogenic. The electron acceptors consist of carbon dioxide, acetic acid, and nitrate. The electron donors are glutamine and carboxylic groups.

Genome Its genome size is 1.77 Million base pairs long and contains 1,893 protein-coding genes. In addition to these protein coding genes, Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 has 36 pseudogenes and a total of 23 CRISPR loci. This strain has the highest number of CRISPR loci of all sequenced isolates to date. It also has a GC-content of 32.04%.

Phylogeny The 16S rRNA gene of Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22, is almost 100% similar to that of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii DSM 2661. The only difference being that Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is a hyperthermophilic nitrogen fixing archaea and Methanocaldococcus jannaschii DSM 2661 is unable to fix nitrogen. Other related species and strains of Methanocaldococcus that reside in the same order include: Methanococcus aeolicus, Methanocaldococcus fervens, Methanotorris igneus, Methanocaldococcus infernus, Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, Methanococcus maripaludis, Methanothermococcus okinawensis, Methanococcus vannielii, Methanococcus voltae, and Methanocaldococcus vulcanius.

Significance Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is significant due to its ability to fix nitrogen and reduce it from N2 to NH3 in an optimum temperature of 92 °C. This is an extremely important discovery to the scientific community as this optimum Nitrogen reduction in 92 °C is a total of 28 °C higher than the previously recorded nitrogen reduction of the methanogen, Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus. Before the discovery of Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22, Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus was the most thermophilic microorganism, fixing nitrogen at 64 °C. This particular discovery has potential to reveal a much wider range of conditions for life not only, in the seafloor biosphere but also, other ecosystems that are nitrogen deficient. Looking further into this methanogen, it was found that the 16S rRNA gene of Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22, is 99% similar to that of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii DSM 2661. This odd 1% divergence between FS406-22 and M. jannaschii is due to a previous separation of ancestral genes. The revelation of a hyperthermophilic, diazotrophic, archaea (strain FS406-22) may be due to the evolutionary history of nitrogenous. The phylogenetic analysis of nitrogenous and chlorophyll iron proteins suggests that an ancestral iron protein duplicated and diverged into nifH and anfH genes. This divergence of genes is estimated to have happened before the separation of the Domains bacteria and methanogenic archaea. Strain FS406-22 contains a functional nifH gene which is able to encode dinitrogenase reductase whereas M. jannaschii does not possess this gene, explaining the 1% divergence between the two species.

References

Further reading Rath, Devashish (2015). "The CRISPR-Cas immune system: Biology, mechanisms and applications". Biochimie. 117: 119–128. doi:10.1016/j.biochi.2015.03.025. PMID 25868999.. Dos Santos, PC; Fang, Z; Mason, SW; Setubal, JC; Dixon, R (2012). "Distribution of nitrogen fixation and nitrogenase-like sequences amongst microbial genomes". BMC Genomics. 13: 162. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-13-162. PMC 3464626. PMID 22554235.. Anderson, RE; Brazelton, WJ; Baross, JA (2011). "Using CRISPRs as a metagenomic tool to identify microbial hosts of a diffuse flow hydrothermal vent viral assemblage". FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 77 (1): 120–33. Bibcode:2011FEMME..77..120A. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01090.x. PMID 21410492.

External links KEGG entry for Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 UCSD genome browser entry for Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22

In research: Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Methanobacteriati, Undescribed species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 means in your own words.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 in simple terms?

Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 is an archaea in the genus Methanocaldococcus.

Why does Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22 matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22.