title: Genomics-informed isolation and characterization of a symbiotic Nanoarchaeota system from a terrestrial geothermal environment.
abstract: Biological features can be inferred, based on genomic data, for many microbial lineages that remain uncultured. However, cultivation is important for characterizing an organism's physiology and testing its genome-encoded potential. Here we use single-cell genomics to infer cultivation conditions for the isolation of an ectosymbiotic Nanoarchaeota ('Nanopusillus acidilobi') and its host (Acidilobus, a crenarchaeote) from a terrestrial geothermal environment. The cells of 'Nanopusillus' are among the smallest known cellular organisms (100-300 nm). They appear to have a complete genetic information processing machinery, but lack almost all primary biosynthetic functions as well as respiration and ATP synthesis. Genomic and proteomic comparison with its distant relative, the marine Nanoarchaeum equitans illustrate an ancient, common evolutionary history of adaptation of the Nanoarchaeota to ectosymbiosis, so far unique among the Archaea.
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.|Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Louie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wurch
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Giannone
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.|Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Bernard S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Belisle
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.|Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Swift
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Sagar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Utturkar
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.|Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hettich
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 97207, USA.
authors.forename: Anna-Louise
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Reysenbach
authors.affiliation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.|Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Mircea
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Podar
mesh_terms: D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D019615:Crenarchaeota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D015870:Gene Expression; D020745:Genome, Archaeal; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D045482:Hot Springs; D046588:Nanoarchaeota / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010802:Phylogeny; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins