title: Respiratory quinones in Archaea: phylogenetic distribution and application as biomarkers in the marine environment.
abstract: The distribution of respiratory quinone electron carriers among cultivated organisms provides clues on both the taxonomy of their producers and the redox processes these are mediating. Our study of the quinone inventories of 25 archaeal species belonging to the phyla Eury-, Cren- and Thaumarchaeota facilitates their use as chemotaxonomic markers for ecologically important archaeal clades. Saturated and monounsaturated menaquinones with six isoprenoid units forming the alkyl chain may serve as chemotaxonomic markers for Thaumarchaeota. Other diagnostic biomarkers are thiophene-bearing quinones for Sulfolobales and methanophenazines as functional quinone analogues of the Methanosarcinales. The ubiquity of saturated menaquinones in the Archaea in comparison to Bacteria suggests that these compounds may represent an ancestral and diagnostic feature of the Archaea. Overlap between quinone compositions of distinct thermophilic and halophilic archaea and bacteria may indicate lateral gene transfer. The biomarker potential of thaumarchaeal quinones was exemplarily demonstrated on a water column profile of the Black Sea. Both, thaumarchaeal quinones and membrane lipids showed similar distributions with maxima at the chemocline. Quinone distributions indicate that Thaumarchaeota dominate respiratory activity at a narrow interval in the chemocline, while they contribute only 9% to the microbial biomass at this depth, as determined by membrane lipid analysis.
authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Group, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences & Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, 28359, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0405-4033
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Elling
authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Group, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences & Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, 28359, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Kevin W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Group, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences & Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, 28359, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Könneke
authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Group, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences & Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, 28359, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schröder
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Matthias Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Kellermann
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie und Archaeenzentrum, Universität Regensburg, 93053, Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomm
authors.affiliation: Organic Geochemistry Group, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences & Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, 28359, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Kai-Uwe
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Hinrichs
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D018533:Biomass; D059038:Black Sea; D004463:Ecology; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D008563:Membrane Lipids / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010802:Phylogeny; D011809:Quinones / Q000737:chemistry*; D013729:Terpenes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008563:Membrane Lipids; D011809:Quinones; D013729:Terpenes