Comparative Genomics Analyses Indicate Differential Methylated Amine Utilization Trait Within Members of The Genus Gemmobacter

Environmental Microbiology Reports (2021) 13(2), 195–208 doi:10.1111/1758-2229.
12927
Brief Report
Comparative genomics analyses indicate differential

methylated amine utilization trait within members of the
genus Gemmobacter
Eileen Kröber,1†* Mark R. Cunningham,2† while others (G. megaterium and G. nectariphilus)
Julianna Peixoto,3 Lewis Spurgin,4 Daniela Wischer,4 have not.
Ricardo Kruger 3 and Deepak Kumaresan 2*
1
Department of Symbiosis, Max-Planck Institute for Introduction
Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany.
2
School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Global Food Methylated amines (MAs) are ubiquitous in the environ-
Security, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK. ment with a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources
3
Department of Cellular Biology, University of Brasília, including the oceans, vegetation, sediments and organic-
Brasília, Brazil. rich soils, animal husbandry, food industry, pesticides,
4 sewage and automobiles, to mention only a few (Schade
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East
Anglia, Norwich, UK. and Crutzen, 1995; Latypova et al., 2010; Ge
et al., 2011). Methylated amines are also known to influ-
ence Earth’s climate, via a series of complex biological
Summary
and chemical interactions (Carpenter et al., 2012). Some
Methylated amines are ubiquitous in the environment of the most abundant methylated amines found in the
and play a role in regulating the earth’s climate via a atmosphere are trimethylamine (TMA), dimethylamine
set of complex biological and chemical reactions. (DMA) and monomethylamine (MMA) (Ge et al., 2011).
Microbial degradation of these compounds is thought Microbial metabolism of methylated amines involves both
to be a major sink. Recently we isolated a facultative aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms, for example
methylotroph, Gemmobacter sp. LW-1, an isolate some methanogenic archaea such as Methanosarcina
from the unique environment Movile Cave, Romania, and Methanomicrobium can use MAs to produce meth-
which is capable of methylated amine utilization as a ane (Burke et al., 1998; Liu and Whitman, 2008; Lyimo
carbon source. Here, using a comparative genomics et al., 2009) while Gram-positive and Gram-negative met-
approach, we investigate how widespread methylated hylotrophic bacteria can use MAs as carbon and nitrogen
amine utilization is within members of the bacterial source (Chen et al., 2010a). Previously, MAs were typi-
genus Gemmobacter. Seven genomes of different cally associated with marine ecosystems as they are by-
Gemmobacter species isolated from diverse environ- products of degradation of osmolytic chemicals such as
ments, such as activated sludge, fresh water, sul- glycine betaine, carnitine, choline and trimethylamine N-
phuric cave waters (Movile Cave) and the marine oxide (Chen et al., 2010b). However, recent studies have
environment were available from the public reposito- reported the detection and activity of aerobic met-
ries and used for the analysis. Our results indicate hylotrophic bacteria that utilize MAs in a variety of natural
that methylamine utilization is a distinctive feature of and engineered environments (Chen et al., 2009; Chi-
selected members of the genus Gemmobacter, stoserdova et al., 2009; Chistoserdova, 2011; Ge
namely G. aquatilis, G. lutimaris, G. sp. HYN0069, et al., 2011; Wischer et al., 2015) and could play a major
G. caeni and G. sp. LW-1 have the genetic potential role in global C and N budgets.
Aerobic methylotrophs are a polyphyletic group of micro-
organisms capable of utilizing one-carbon (C1) compounds
such as methane, methanol or methylated amines as their
Received 8 September, 2020; accepted 11 January, 2021. *For cor- sole source of carbon and energy (Anthony, 1982;
respondence. E-mail [email protected]; Tel.
+4942120288230. E-mail [email protected]; Tel. Lidstrom, 2006; Chistoserdova et al., 2009). Methylotrophs
+442890972181. †These authors contributed equally to this study. can degrade TMA to DMA by using the enzymes TMA
© 2021 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology Reports published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
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196 E. Kröber et al.
dehydrogenase, TMA monooxygenase or TMA methyl- G. nanjingense (Zhang et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2013),
transferase (under anaerobic conditions by methylotrophic G. intermedius (Kämpfer et al., 2015), G. lanyuensis
methanogens), encoded by the genes tdm, tmm and mtt, (Sheu et al., 2013a), G. tilapiae (Sheu et al., 2013b),
respectively (Paul et al., 2000; Chen, 2012; Lidbury G. fontiphilus (Chen et al., 2013), G. straminiformis
et al., 2014). The enzymes DMA dehydrogenase (dmd) or (Kang et al., 2017), G. serpentinus (Lim et al., 2020),
DMA monooxygenase (dmmDABC) modulate the conver- G. aquarius (Baek et al., 2020), G. caeruleus
sion of DMA to MMA (Lidstrom, 2006; Chen, 2012; Lidbury (Qu et al., 2020), G. lutimaris (Yoo et al., 2019),
et al., 2017). Two distinct pathways have been character- G. aestuarii (Hameed et al., 2020) and G. changlensis
ized for the oxidation of MMA (Chistoserdova, 2011). The (Hameed et al., 2020). These species were isolated from
direct MMA-oxidation pathway mediated by a single enzyme a wide range of environments including fresh water envi-
(MMA dehydrogenase in Gram-negative bacteria and MMA ronments (freshwater pond (Rothe et al., 1987, Sheu
oxidase in Gram-positive bacteria) converts MMA to formal- et al., 2013a), freshwater spring (Chen et al., 2013; Sheu
dehyde and releases ammonium (McIntire et al., 1991; Chi- et al., 2013b)), coastal planktonic seaweed (Liu
stoserdova et al., 1994). The alternate pathway, referred to et al., 2014), white stork nestling (Kämpfer et al., 2015),
as the N-methylglutamate (NMG) pathway or indirect MMA- waste water and activated sludge (Tanaka et al., 2004;
oxidation pathway, is mediated by three individual enzymes Zheng et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2012), suggesting that
via the oxidation of MMA to gamma-glutamylmethylamide members of the genus Gemmobacter are widely distrib-
(GMA) and its further degradation to N-methylglutamate uted in engineered and natural environments.
(NMG) and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate (CH2 = H4F) Here, using a comparative genomics approach we
(Latypova et al., 2010; Chistoserdova, 2011). A stepwise study how widespread methylated amine utilization trait
conversion of MMA in the NMG pathway is modulated by (i.e. metabolic potential) is within the members of the
the enzymes GMA synthetase (gmaS), ‘NMG synthase’ genus Gemmobacter. We used seven isolate genomes
(mgsABC) and NMG dehydrogenase (mgdABCD) (available in public repositories at the time of this study –
(Latypova et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2010a). The capability March 2020) for members within the genus
to use MMA not only as a source for carbon but also for Gemmobacter (G. sp. LW-1, G. caeni, G. aquatilis,
nitrogen is widespread in bacteria. Notably, the NMG path- G. nectariphilus, G. megaterium, G. sp. HYN0069 and
way is not only restricted to methylotrophs but also present G. lutimaris YJ-T1-11) alongside genomes of closely
in non-methylotrophic bacteria that use MMA as a nitrogen related organisms within the family Rhodobacteraceae to
as an energy source but not as a carbon source (Chen show that the methylated amine utilization trait is a dis-
et al., 2010b; Chen, 2012; Lidbury et al., 2015a; Taubert tinctive feature within selected members of the genus
et al., 2017). Gemmobacter.
In a recent study, we isolated an alphaproteobacterial
facultative methylotrophic bacterium, Gemmobacter
sp. LW-1 (recently renamed from Catellibacterium (Chen Materials and methods
et al., 2013)) from the Movile Cave ecosystem (Mangalia, Genome data acquisition
Romania) (Kumaresan et al., 2014) that can use methyl-
ated amines as both carbon and nitrogen source Seven Gemmobacter genomes (G. caeni, G. aquatilis,
(Wischer et al., 2015) and subsequently obtained its G. nectariphilus, G. megaterium, Gemmobacter sp. LW-1,
genome sequence (Kumaresan et al., 2015). Using a G. sp. HYN0069 and G. lutimaris YJ-T1-11) available
13
C-MMA DNA-based stable-isotope probing (SIP) exper- (accessed in March 2020) through the Integrated Micro-
iment, we also showed that Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 was bial Genomes (IMG) database (https://img.jgi.doe.gov/)
indeed an active MMA utilizer in microbial mats from this were used for comparative genome analysis (Markowitz
environment (Wischer et al., 2015). This was the first et al., 2013). Accession numbers and genome character-
report of methylated amine utilization in a member of the istics are listed in Table S2.
bacterial genus Gemmobacter. However, growth on C1
compounds (methanol and formate) has been reported
Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analysis
for the genus Gemmobacter, for example in G. caeni
(Zheng et al., 2011). The genus Gemmobacter (family Phylogenetic relatedness between the different members
Rhodobacteraceae) currently comprises 17 species of the genus Gemmobacter was determined using phylo-
(summarized in Table S1): Gemmobacter megaterium genetic trees constructed from 16S rRNA gene (nucleo-
(Liu et al., 2014), G. nectariphilum (Tanaka et al., 2004; tide) and metabolic gene sequences ( gmaS and mauA;
Chen et al., 2013), G. aquatilis (Rothe et al., 1987), amino acids) involved in MMA utilization. RNAmmer
G. caeni (Zheng et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2013), (Lagesen et al., 2007) was used to retrieve 16S rRNA
G. aquaticus (Liu et al., 2010; Chen et al., 2013), gene sequences from the genome sequences. Multiple
© 2021 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology Reports published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.,
Environmental Microbiology Reports, 13, 195–208
Methylated amine utilization trait in Gemmobacter 197
sequence alignment of 16S rRNA gene sequences from from four distinct ecosystems: (i) Reactor facilities for
Gemmobacter genomes along with related sequences treating municipal wastewater (SRR870266), (ii) epiphytic
(retrieved from NCBI) was performed using the SINA bacterial communities in Hydrilla verticillate (SRR2033800),
(v1.2.11) alignment service via ARB-SILVA (https://www. (iii) human skin microbiome (interdigital web space;
arb-silva.de/aligner/) (Pruesse et al., 2007; Pruesse SRR1704943) and (iv) dry valley lakes in high altitude
et al., 2012) and subsequently imported into MEGA7 (SRR953422).
(Kumar et al., 2016) to construct a maximum-likelihood
nucleotide-based phylogenetic tree (Saitou and
Nei, 1987) using the Tamura-Nei model for computing Comparative genomic analyses
evolutionary distances and bootstrapping with 1000 repli- CGView Comparison Tool (CCT) was used to visually com-
cates. To determine phylogenetic affiliations for the pro- pare the genomes within the genus Gemmobacter (Grant
tein encoding genes gmaS and mauA, gene sequences et al., 2012). CCT utilizes BLAST to compare the genomes
retrieved from the genome sequences were aligned to and the BLAST results are presented in a DNA-based graph-
homologous sequences retrieved from the NCBI ical map (Grant et al., 2012). Average Nucleotide/Amino Acid
Genbank database using Basic Local Alignment Search Identity (ANI/AAI) (Rodriguez-R and Konstantinidis, 2016)
Tool (BLAST, blastx) (Altschul et al., 1990) and curated between different genomes was estimated using one-way
gmaS sequences used for primer design in our previous ANI (best hit) and two-way ANI (reciprocal best hit) based on
study (Wischer et al., 2015). Amino acid sequences were Goris et al. (Goris et al., 2007). In addition the whole-genome
aligned in MEGA7 (Kumar et al., 2016) using ClustalW based average nucleotide identity (gANI) and the printra-species
(Thompson et al., 1994) and the alignment was subse- value were determined for G. sp. LW-1 and G. caeni (these
quently used to construct maximum likelihood phyloge- two genomes revealed the closest ANI) based on
netic trees based on the JTT matrix-based model (Jones Konstantinidis and Tiedje (Konstantinidis and Tiedje, 2005)
et al., 1992). Bootstrap analysis was performed with via the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) platform (https://ani.jgi-
1000 replicates to provide confidence estimates for phy- psf.org/html/home.php; Version 0.3, April 2014). In order to
logenetic tree topologies (Felsenstein, 1985). determine if two genomes belong to the same species, the
We inferred the phylogenomics of 11 bacterial species – computation of empirical probabilities (printra-species) can be
G. aquatilis, G. caeni, G. sp. LW-1, G. megabacterium DSM- calculated as follows,
26375, G. nectariphilus DSM-15620, G. sp HYN00069,
G. lutimaris YJ-T1-11, Paracoccus denitrificans PD1222, −species
pintra−
r
species
½AF = a, ANI = b = pintra
r ½AF = a
Roseovarius sp. TM103, Rhodobacter sphaeroides intra −species
pr ½ANI = bjAF = a
241 and Methylobacterium nodulans ORS2060 using
117 single copy phylogenetic marker genes specific to AF represents alignment fraction. Pan-genome analysis
organisms within the class Alphaproteobacteria (Emms for determination of core and dispensable genes and sin-
and Kelly, 2015) via the GToTree (v1.5.22) pipeline gletons (unique genes) was carried out using EDGAR v2.0
(Lee, 2019). For each set of protein sequences retrieved (Blom et al., 2009) using default settings. Estimation of
using the HMMER3 tool (Eddy, 2011), multiple alignments genomic completeness and contamination was carried out
were produced using MUSCLE (v3.8.31, default settings) using the CheckM (v 1.3.0) program (Parks et al., 2015).
(Edgar, 2004). Subsequently, conserved alignment blocks In order to compare the genetic potential for methyl-
were identified using trimal (v1.4) (Capella-Gutiérrez ated amine utilization within the available Gemmobacter
et al., 2009) with the option -automated1. The phyloge- genomes, known protein sequences involved in methyl-
netic reconstruction analysis using the final concatenated ated amine utilization pathways (Latypova et al., 2010;
alignment was constructed using FastTree2 (v2.1.10) Chen, 2012) were used as query sequences through the
(Price et al., 2010) using default settings and 1000 boot- BLAST (blastp) program (Altschul et al., 1990) available
straps. Genome taxonomy was also confirmed using the within the Rapid Annotation using Subsystem Technol-
toolkit GTDB-TK (v1.3.0) (Chaumeil et al., 2019). ogy (RAST) server (Aziz et al., 2008). The list of protein
In order to assess the environmental distribution of the queries used is given in Table S3.
genus Gemmobacter, we used MAPseq (Matias Rodri-
gues et al., 2017) (https://beta.microbeatlas.org) to survey
the relative abundance in different amplicon and Results and discussion
metagenome datasets based on 16S rRNA gene
Analysis of phylogenetic relatedness and environmental
sequences (query sequence: Gemmobacter aquatilis
distribution
DSM3857 (NR_104740.1) at 97% cut-off; accessed in
March 2020). We also determined the relative abundance The phylogenetic relatedness of members within the
of Gemmobacter in 16S rRNA gene sequence datasets genus Gemmobacter was resolved based on 16S rRNA
gene sequences (Fig. 1A). Four members of the genus genomes of G. caeni, G. lutimaris YJ-T1-11 and G.
Gemmobacter (G. sp. LW-1, G. caeni, G. sp. Lutimaris sp. LW-1 (Fig. 3) that clustered together in phylogenomic
YJ-T1-11 and G. aquatilis) clustered together with sev- analysis (Fig. 1B). It has been suggested that the NMG
eral other related Gemmobacter and Rhodobacter 16S pathway for MMA utilization is more universally distributed
rRNA gene sequences retrieved from fresh water, soil and more abundant across proteobacterial methylotrophs
and sediment and activated sludge environments with than the direct MMA oxidation pathway (Nayak and
G. megaterium along with sequences from the marine Marx, 2015). However, it should be noted that genes
environment. G. nectariphilus, G. megaterium and G. encoding for the enzymes within the NMG pathway
sp. HYN0069 sequences clustered together with Para- (gmaS) can not only be detected in methylotrophs but also
coccus kawasakiensis and other related Gemmobacter in non-methylotrophic bacteria that use MMA as a nitrogen
sequences from fresh water and activated sludge envi- source for energy, but not as a carbon source
ronments (Fig. 1A). Phylogenomic analysis based on single (Chen, 2012; Wischer et al., 2015; Lidbury et al., 2015b).
copy marker genes specific to members within
Alphaproteobacteria revealed that G. sp LW1, G. caeni and
A comparative genome analysis of members within the
G. lutimaris clustered together and along with G. aquatilis
genus Gemmobacter
and G. sp HYN0069 were closely related to Rhodobacter
sphaeroides 2.4.1 whereas G. megabacterium and At the time of the analysis, seven Gemmobacter
G. nectariphilus to Paracoccus denitrificans (Fig. 1B & genomes obtained from isolates from different environ-
Table S5 for genome taxonomy classification). ments were available (Fig. 1B). Gemmobacter genome
The environmental distribution of the genus Gemmobacter sizes range from 3.96 Mb to 5.14 Mb with GC con-
in sequence datasets was determined using the MAPseq tents between 63.95% and 66.19% and genome com-
tool (v1.22; accessed via www.beta.microbeatlas.org), a pleteness between 98.31% and 99.70% (Table S2).
reference-based rRNA gene sequence analysis in both Analysis of sequence annotations revealed that on aver-
amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequences (Matias age 98.44% of the genomes consist of coding
Rodrigues et al., 2017). MAPseq analysis detected sequences (CDS).
Gemmobacter-related sequences in 4810 aquatic, 1540 The genomes were compared using the CGView com-
soil, 2040 plant and 1870 animal/human samples parison tool (Grant et al., 2012) (Fig. 4). Gemmobacter
(Fig. S1A). Members of the genus Gemmobacter are sp. LW-1, isolated from the Movile Cave ecosystem was
widely distributed in engineered (such as activated sludge used as the reference genome and the results of the
and clinical environments) and natural environments, that is BLAST comparison with other Gemmobacter genomes are
fresh water, soil and sediment and marine environments. In represented as a BLAST ring for each genome (Fig. 4).
order to determine the relative abundance of Gemmobacter Similarities between segments of the reference genome
in specific environments, sequence datasets from four dis- sequence and the other genome sequences are shown by
tinct ecosystems were used: (i) reactor facilities for treating a coloured arc beneath the region of similarity indicating
municipal wastewater (2.56%), (ii) epiphytic bacterial com- the percentage of similarity as a colour code. Our analysis
munities in Hydrilla verticillate (6.6%), (iii) human skin (Fig. 4) revealed low amino acid sequence identity levels
microbiome (interdigital web space; 4.19%) and (iv) dry val- (mostly <88%) between Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 and
ley lakes in high altitude (3.71%; Fig. 1B). G. aquatilis, G. nectariphilus, G. megaterium and G.
GMA synthetase, a key enzyme in the NMG pathway, is sp. HYN0069 across the genomes. Higher identity levels
encoded by the gene gmaS. gmaS sequences retrieved (>90%) were detected between Gemmobacter sp. LW-1
from the isolate genomes along with other ratified gmaS and G. caeni and G. lutimaris. Moreover, the analysis
and glutamine synthetase type III (GlnA; as outgroup) suggested several sites of potential insertion/deletion
sequences were used to construct an amino acid-based events in the genome of Gemmobacter sp. LW-1. Possible
phylogenetic tree (Fig. 2). gmaS gene sequences retrieved insertion/deletion regions can be identified as those gaps
from genomes of G. sp. LW-1, G. caeni, G. sp. HYN0069, in the map where no homology is detected. For example,
G. lutimaris YJ-T1-11 and G. aquatilis clustered within the region between 2200 and 2300 kbp (Fig. 4) where a
Group I of alphaproteobacterial gmaS sequences con- gap can be found in the otherwise contiguous homologous
taining sequences from marine and non-marine bacteria regions between the reference genome G. sp. LW-1 and
within the orders Rhodobacterales and Rhizobiales the first of the query genomes (G. caeni). This might likely
(Wischer et al., 2015) and were closely related to Para- be due to a lack of hits or hits with low identity that can be
coccus yeei, P. sp. 1 W-5 and Rhodobacter sp. 1 W-5 spurious matches. Since it covers a large region, we could
(Fig. 2). While gmaS gene sequences were detected in possibly rule out that it is an artefact arising from a lack of
five of the seven investigated Gemmobacter genomes, sensitivity in the BLAST analysis. Even though the
mauA gene sequences were identified only in the genomes of G. sp. LW-1 and G. caeni are closely related,
Fig 1. A. Phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The tree was constructed using the maximum likelihood method for clustering
and the Tamura-Nei model for computing evolutionary distances. Numbers at branches are bootstrap percentages >50% of 1000 replicates. Star
represents the Gemmobacter species used for comparative genome analysis. Coloured fonts represent the habitat where the sequence was
retrieved: blue (fresh water), orange (soil and sediment), green (activated sludge), grey (marine), purple (clinical source). Triangles represent
sequences that are listed as Catellibacterium in the NCBI database, which have been reclassified to Gemmobacter (Chen et al., 2013). Scale
bar: 0.01 substitutions per nucleotide position. B. Phylogenomics tree of genomes within the genus Gemmobacter and closely related organisms
within Alphaproteobacteria. Scale bar: 0.01 substitutions per nucleotide position.
Fig 2. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree based on GmaS sequences. The tree was constructed using amino acid sequences (GmaS) using
the maximum-likelihood method based on the JTT matrix-based model. Members of the genus Gemmobacter used for genome comparison are
represented with a star. Numbers at branches are bootstrap percentages of 1000 replicates. Amino acid sequences of the glutamine synthetase
type III (GlnA) were used as out-group. MRC, marine Roseobacter clade. Scale bar: 0.1 substitutions per amino acid position.
our analysis demonstrates that their genomes are not In order to further resolve the similarity between these
completely identical. Despite the fact that the majority of genomes we calculated the average nucleotide identity
their genomes indicate very high identity levels (mostly (ANI) (Rodriguez-R and Konstantinidis, 2016) (Table S4
>96%–98% as shown by the dominance of dark red col- and Fig. S2A–F). It is generally accepted that an ANI
ours of the circle representing the BLAST hit identity value of >95%–96% can be used for species delineation
between G. sp. LW-1 and G. caeni, many segments (Richter and Rossello-Mora, 2009; Kim et al., 2014). Our
appear to be exclusive to G. sp. LW-1. analysis revealed that Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 and
Fig 3. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree (JTT matrix-based) of mauA sequences. Sequences from the genus Gemmobacter are marked with
a star. Amino acid sequences (MauA) were aligned using the ClustalW algorithm. Numbers at branches are bootstrap percentages of 1000 repli-
cates. Scale bar: 0.1 substitutions per amino acid. Coloured boxes indicate Alphaproteobacteria (blue), Gammaproteobacteria (green) and
Betaproteobacteria (grey).
Gemmobacter caeni share an ANI value of 98.62 (Fig. 3C). It also confirms the phylogeny of the phyloge-
(Table S4) implying that both are in fact the same spe- netic tree based on the core genome between all seven
cies. The genome-based average nucleotide identity Gemmobacter genomes (Fig. 3B) showing a high similarity
(gANI) between G. sp. LW-1 and G. caeni was calculated between Gemmobacter megaterium and Gemmobacter
as 98.70. The AF was calculated to be 0.91, which would nectariphilus (578 uniquely shared CDS) and between
result in a computed probability of 0.98 suggesting that Gemmobacter caeni and Gemmobacter sp. LW1
both genomes might belong to the same species. How- (360 uniquely shared CDS).
ever, it should be noted that these are draft genomes and
a more in-depth characterization of their physiology and
Methylated amine utilization, N assimilation and C1
phenotype is required to delineate these organisms at
oxidation
the level of strain.
Pan-genome analysis, carried out using EDGAR v2.0 Investigation of the methylated amine utilization pathways
(Blom et al., 2009), identified genes present in all in seven Gemmobacter genomes revealed the presence
Gemmobacter species (core genes), two or more of the genes encoding enzymes TMA dehydrogenase
Gemmobacter species (accessory or dispensable (tmd), TMA monooxygenase (tmm) and TMAO
genes), and unique Gemmobacter species (singleton demethylase (tdm) in genomes of G. sp. LW-1, G. caeni,
genes). According to pan-genome analysis of the seven G. sp. HYN0069, G. lutimaris and G. aquatilis while none
Gemmobacter genomes, a total of 10 976 genes were of these genes were detected in G. nectariphilus or
identified, of which 50% were singletons (5.492 CDS), G. megaterium (Fig. 5) indicating the metabolic potential
35.7% were dispensable (3921 CDS) and 14.2% were of these organisms to use the TMA oxidation pathway to
shared by all seven Gemmobacter genomes (core convert TMA to DMA. These findings are supported by
genome, 1563 CDS; Fig. 3A). The UpSet plot (Lex results from a previous study which showed growth of G.
et al., 2014) shows the number of CDS in the core sp. LW-1 on TMA as a carbon and nitrogen source
genome, the singletons but also the number of CDS (Wischer et al., 2015). Based on the genome sequences,
shared by the different Gemmobacter genomes it can be suggested that these five Gemmobacter could
Fig 4. DNA BLAST map of Gemmobacter genomes. Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 was used as a reference genome against Gemmobacter meg-
aterium (inner ring), Gemmobacter sp. HYN0069, (second inner ring), Gemmobacter nectariphilus (third ring), Gemmobacter aquatilis (fourth
ring), Gemmobacter lutimaris (fifth ring) and Gemmobacter caeni (sixth ring). The seventh and eight ring (outer rings) represent the CDS (blue),
tRNA (maroon), and rRNA (purple) on the reverse and forward strand, respectively. The colour scale (inset) shows the level of amino acid
sequence identity with the respective sequences from G. megaterium, G. aquatilis, G. nectariphilus and G. caeni. The locations of genes
involved in methylotrophy are indicated at the outside of the map.
use the enzyme DMA monooxygenase (dmmDABC) to (Lidbury et al., 2015a). However, the oxidation of formyl-
oxidize DMA to MMA but not the DMA dehydrogenase H4F (CHO-H4F) can also be facilitated by purU, the gene
since the corresponding protein encoding gene (dmd) encoding for the formyl-H4F deformylase. The formate
was not found (Fig. 5). dehydrogenase (fdh) mediates the last step of the C1 oxi-
We also compared the distribution of the direct MMA- dation pathway, the oxidation of formate to CO2. The
oxidation and the NMG pathways in the genomes of genes for the C1 oxidation pathway via H4F were detected
seven Gemmobacter species (Fig. 5) and gene arrange- in all Gemmobacter genomes.
ment (Fig. S4). The direct MMA-oxidation pathway The fae gene, encoding the formaldehyde-activating
(mauA-dependent) is so far only known to be present in enzyme that catalyses the reduction of formaldehyde with
methylotrophic bacteria that can use MMA as a carbon H4MPT, was not detected in any of the seven
source. Whereas the NMG pathway ( gmaS-dependent) Gemmobacter genomes confirming that these members
has been shown to be present in non-methylotrophic bac- of the genus Gemmobacter lack the H4MPT pathway for
teria that can use MMA as a nitrogen source for energy formaldehyde oxidation (Fig. 5 and Table 1). Investigation
(Chen et al., 2010a; Nayak and Marx, 2015; Wischer of the nitrogen assimilation pathway revealed the pres-
et al., 2015; Nayak et al., 2016). Analysis of the genome ence of the genes encoding glutamine synthetase (GS;
sequences revealed that G. sp. LW-1, G. lutimaris and glnA) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT; gltB) in all seven
G. caeni possess genes for both MMA oxidation path- Gemmobacter genomes. In bacteria this pathway is
ways (Fig. 5). We have previously shown that essential for glutamate synthesis at low ammonium con-
Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 can use MMA and TMA as both centrations (Chen, 2012).
a carbon and nitrogen source (Wischer et al., 2015).
Genome sequences of G. aquatilis and G. sp. HYN0069
indicated the presence of genes involved only in the
Conclusion
NMG pathway. In the facultative methylotroph
Methylorubrum extorquens AM1, it has been shown that Using comparative genome analysis, we provide
the NMG pathway is advantageous compared to the genome-based evidence that the three Gemmobacter
direct MMA-oxidation pathway (Nayak et al., 2016). NMG isolates G. sp. LW-1, G. lutimaris and G. caeni are capa-
pathway enables facultative methylotrophic bacteria to ble of generating energy from complete oxidation of
switch between using MMA as a nitrogen source or as a methylated amines via the H4F-dependent pathway using
carbon and energy source whereas the direct MMA oxi- either the NMG pathway or the direct MMA oxidation
dation pathway allows for rapid growth on MMA only as pathway. Both Gemmobacter aquatilis and G.
the primary energy and carbon source (Nayak sp. HYN0069 are genetically capable of methylated
et al., 2016). This could suggest that G. aquatilis and G. amine degradation to yield formaldehyde and only
sp. HYN0069 might use the NMG pathway for utilizing encode the genes for the NMG pathway, which indicates
MMA as both nitrogen and carbon source. However, that these organisms could use this pathway to use MMA
growth assays are required to confirm whether both organ- as a nitrogen source for energy. Both G. nectariphilus
isms can use MMA as a carbon source. We did not detect and G. megaterium genomes indicate the lack of poten-
genes for either MMA oxidation pathways in the genome tial to use methylated amines.
sequences of G. nectariphilus and G. megaterium Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 was isolated from the Movile
suggesting the lack of genetic potential of these organisms Cave ecosystem (Wischer et al., 2015). Microbial mats
to use MMA as either C or N source. and lake water within the cave have been shown to har-
The C1 units derived from methylated amines need to bour a wide diversity of methylated amine-utilizing bacte-
be further oxidized when the nitrogen is sequestered with- ria (Wischer et al., 2015; Kumaresan et al., 2018). While
out assimilation of the carbon from the methylated amines. the mechanism of MAs production within the system has
Genome analysis confirmed that all seven Gemmobacter to be elucidated, it can be speculated that degradation of
species possess the genetic capability for C1 oxidation floating microbial mats (i.e. organic matter) could result in
and also indicate that tetrahydrofolate (H4F) is the C1 car- MAs (Wischer et al., 2015). Similarly, G. caeni isolated
rier (Fig. 5). The bifunctional enzyme 5,10-methylene- from activated sludge (Zheng et al., 2011) could possibly
tetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase, encoded use the MAs generated from organic matter degradation.
by the gene folD, was detected in all the Gemmobacter Interestingly, while G. megaterium was isolated from a
genomes (Fig. 5, Table 1). Genes encoding key enzymes marine environment (seaweed) (Liu et al., 2014) possibly
in the C1 oxidation pathway via tetrahydromethanopterin encountering MAs from the degradation of osmolytes
(H4MPT) were not detected (Chistoserdova, 2011). The such as glycine betaine (N,N,N-trimethylglycine), we did
formate-tetrahydrofolate ligase, encoded by the gene fhs not detect metabolic genes involved in methylated amine
(Fig. 5), provides C1 units for biosynthetic pathways utilization.
Fig 5. Metabolic pathways involved in methylated amine utilization and one-carbon utilization annotated with presence/absence of specific genes in
the genomes of Gemmobacter. The analysis was based on a five-way comparison among Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 (L), Gemmobacter caeni (C),
Gemmobacter aquatilis (A), Gemmobacter sp. HYN0069 (H), Gemmobacter lutimaris (Y),Gemmobacter nectariphilus (N) and Gemmobacter meg-
aterium (M). The colour-coded boxes next to the genes indicate the presence (green) or absence (orange) of a gene in each genome.
Based on the 16S rRNA gene analysis, the genus study highlights the need for further research into evolu-
Gemmobacter appears to be polyphyletic; however, the tionary implications on methylated amine utilization trait
relatedness of gmaS follows established taxonomy. Our not only in Gemmobacter but also across other members
cox
within the bacterial domain. Furthermore, results from this
formylmethanofuran-H4MPT-N-formyltransferase; gfa, GSH-dependent formaldehyde-activating enzyme; gmaS, GMA synthetase; mauA, methylamine dehydrogenase small subunit; mchA,
adhl (flhA), glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase; amtB, ammonium transporter; cox, carbon monoxide dehydrogenase; fae, formaldehyde-activating enzyme; fdh, formate dehy-
drogenase; fghA, S-formyl-glutathione hydrolase; fhs (ftfL), formyl-H4F synthetase; fmdA/B/C, formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase; folD, methylene-H4F dehydrogenase/cyclohydroloase; ftr,
Table 1. Comparative genomic analysis of methylated amine-utilizing genes in genomes-sequenced Gemmobacters in comparison to closed related genus within the family Rhodobacteraceae.
−
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
study suggest that the trait for methylated amine utiliza-
tion within the genus Gemmobacter could be indepen-
dent from the habitat and localized factors (e.g. substrate
fmdA
/B/C
availability) or selection pressures could influence the

−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
+
+
ability of these organisms to use methylated amines. It
methenyl-H4MPT cyclohydrolase; mtdA/mtdB, methylene-H4F dehydrogenase/methylene-H4MTP dehydrogenase; purU, formyl-H4F deformylase; tmm, TMA monooxygenase.
ftr
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
has been well-established that the direct MMA oxidation
pathway allows organisms to achieve faster growth on
mchA
MMA and genes encoding for MaDH enzyme (mau clus-

−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
ter) can be acquired by horizontal gene transfer (Nayak
et al., 2015). We also show that members of the genus
Gemmobacter are widespread in the environment and
mtdA/
mtdB
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
−/−
their contribution to carbon and nitrogen cycling via met-
hylotrophic modules require detailed characterization.
amtB
Access to Gemmobacter isolates with or without the

genetic potential for methylated amine utilization trait will
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
allow us to perform physiological experiments in future to

fdh
test how this trait can affect fitness while growing on

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
methylated amines and also understand the eco-

fghA
evolutionary factors that shape the physiology of

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Gemmobacter from different environments.

(flhA)
adhI
Acknowledgements
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
The authors thank Dr Felipe Hernandes Coutinho (Federal

gfa
+a
+a
+a
+a
−
−
+
+
+
University of Rio de Janeiro) for a fruitful discussion on

genomic regions of insertion and deletion in Gemmobacter
sp. LW-1. The authors thank Paul Stothard for using their in-
(ftfL)
fhs
house pipeline of the CGView comparison tool. The EDGAR

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
platform is financially supported by the BMBF grant FKZ

purU
031A533 within the de.NBI network. This manuscript has

Shown is the presence (+) or absence (−) of specific genes in the genome sequences.
−
been published as preprint at the preprint server for biology

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
(bioRxiv.org, Kröber et al., 2018). The authors also thank the

folD
anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
fae
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
−
References
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genus Sphingomonas for vigorous growth. Int J Syst Evol systems (output from MAPseq tool) with average abundance
Microbiol 54: 955–959. in the environmental samples and number of samples avail-
Taubert, M., Grob, C., Howat, A.M., Burns, O.J., able is indicated within parenthesis. (B) Relative abundance
Pratscher, J., Jehmlich, N., et al. (2017) Methylamine as a of Gemmobacter in four distinct ecosystems (top 20 genus).
nitrogen source for microorganisms from a coastal marine Fig. S2. (A–F) Average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis of
environment. Environ Microbiol 19: 2246–2257. Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 and Gemmobacter caeni,
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CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive mul- Gemmobacter megaterium and (G) AAI analysis between
tiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting,
those species and related Rhodobacter sphaeroides.
position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice.
Fig. S3. Pan-genome analysis of seven Gemmobacter
Nucleic Acids Res 22: 4673–4680.
genomes. (A) Fractional pan genome representation.
Wischer, D., Kumaresan, D., Johnston, A., El Khawand, M.,
(B) Phylogenetic tree of seven Gemmobacter species based
Stephenson, J., Hillebrand-Voiculescu, A.M., et al. (2015)
Bacterial metabolism of methylated amines and identification on the core genome calculated between those seven spe-
of novel methylotrophs in Movile Cave. ISME J 9: 195–206. cies. (C) UpSet plot (Lex et al., 2014) of the pan-genome of
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Yim, U.H., et al. (2019) Gemmobacter lutimaris sp. nov., a was chosen as reference genome. (D) Circular representa-
marine bacterium isolated from a tidal flat. Int J Syst Evol tion of the Gemmobacter genomes indicating the core
Microbiol 69: 1676–1681. genome shared between all seven Gemmobacter genomes.
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He, J., and Li, S.-P. (2012) Catellibacterium nanjingense utilization.
sp. nov., a propanil-degrading bacterium isolated from Table S1. Overview of isolated Gemmobacter species.
activated sludge, and emended description of the genus Table S2. Genome characteristics of the seven
Catellibacterium. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 62: 495–499. Gemmobacter isolate genomes used in this study.
Zheng, J.-W., Chen, Y.-G., Zhang, J., Ni, Y.-Y., Li, W.-J., Table S3. List of protein queries used for the genome com-
He, J., and Li, S.-P. (2011) Description of Catellibacterium parison with their accession number.
caeni sp. now., reclassification of Rhodobacter changlensis Table S4. (A) Average nucleotide identity (ANI) and
Anil Kumar et al. 2007 as Catellibacterium changlense (B) average amino acid identity (AAI) values between
comb. nov. and emended description of the genus Gemmobacter sp. LW-1 and Gemmobacter caeni,
Catellibacterium. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 61: 1921–1926. Gemmobacter aquatilis, Gemmobacter nectariphilus,
Gemmobacter megaterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides and
Supporting Information Paracoccus denitrificans.
Table S5. Genome taxonomy classification of Gemmobacter
Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online genomes using the toolkit GTDB-TK.
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Comparative Genomics Analyses Indicate Differential Methylated Amine Utilization Trait Within Members of The Genus Gemmobacter

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Environmental Microbiology Reports (2021) 13(2), 195–208 doi:10.1111/1758-2229.

Comparative genomics analyses indicate differential

availability) or selection pressures could inﬂuence the

MMA and genes encoding for MaDH enzyme (mau clus-

Access to Gemmobacter isolates with or without the

allow us to perform physiological experiments in future to

test how this trait can affect ﬁtness while growing on

methylated amines and also understand the eco-

evolutionary factors that shape the physiology of

Gemmobacter from different environments.

The authors thank Dr Felipe Hernandes Coutinho (Federal

University of Rio de Janeiro) for a fruitful discussion on

house pipeline of the CGView comparison tool. The EDGAR

platform is ﬁnancially supported by the BMBF grant FKZ

031A533 within the de.NBI network. This manuscript has

been published as preprint at the preprint server for biology

(bioRxiv.org, Kröber et al., 2018). The authors also thank the

anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

Altschul, S.F., Gish, W., Miller, W., Myers, E.W., and

Lipman, D.J. (1990) Basic local alignment search tool.

J Mol Biol 215: 403–410.

London: Academic Press.

tions using subsystems technology. BMC Genomics 9: 75.

aquarius sp. nov., Runella rosea sp. nov. and

Gemmobacter megaterium DSM-

Gemmobacter lutimaris YJ-T1-11

Flavobacterium ﬂuviale sp. nov., isolated from the

Gemmobacter sp. HYN0069

Namhangang River system. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol:

ijsem004455 70(11), 5640–5647.

Blom, J., Albaum, S.P., Doppmeier, D., Pühler, A.,

Vorhölter, F.-J., Zakrzewski, M., and Goesmann, A.

Burke, S.A., Lo, S.L., and Krzycki, J.A. (1998) Clustered

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