title: System-Wide Adaptations of Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20 to Phosphate-Limited Conditions.
abstract: The prevalence of lipids devoid of phosphorus suggests that the availability of phosphorus limits microbial growth and activity in many anoxic, stratified environments. To better understand the response of anaerobic bacteria to phosphate limitation and starvation, this study combines microscopic and lipid analyses with the measurements of fitness of pooled barcoded transposon mutants of the model sulfate reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio alaskensis G20. Phosphate-limited G20 has lower growth rates and replaces more than 90% of its membrane phospholipids by a mixture of monoglycosyl diacylglycerol (MGDG), glycuronic acid diacylglycerol (GADG) and ornithine lipids, lacks polyphosphate granules, and synthesizes other cellular inclusions. Analyses of pooled and individual mutants reveal the importance of the high-affinity phosphate transport system (the Pst system), PhoR, and glycolipid and ornithine lipid synthases during phosphate limitation. The phosphate-dependent synthesis of MGDG in G20 and the widespread occurrence of the MGDG/GADG synthase among sulfate reducing ∂-Proteobacteria implicate these microbes in the production of abundant MGDG in anaerobic environments where the concentrations of phosphate are lower than 10 μM. Numerous predicted changes in the composition of the cell envelope and systems involved in transport, maintenance of cytoplasmic redox potential, central metabolism and regulatory pathways also suggest an impact of phosphate limitation on the susceptibility of sulfate reducing bacteria to other anthropogenic or environmental stresses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5179-5323
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bosak
authors.affiliation: University of Bremen and MARUM, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schubotz
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Santiago-Torio
authors.affiliation: Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jennifer V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Kuehl
authors.affiliation: Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Hans K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.affiliation: W.M. Keck Microscopy Facility, The Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nicki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Mirna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daye
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Roger E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Summons
authors.affiliation: Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America.|Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Adam P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Arkin
authors.affiliation: Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Adam M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Deutschbauer
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization / Q000187:drug effects; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects*; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D003901:Desulfovibrio / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D009154:Mutation; D010710:Phosphates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010710:Phosphates; D010758:Phosphorus