Bacterial, archaeal and viral-like rhodopsins from the Red Sea

• Published in: Environmental microbiology reports Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 475 - 482
• Main Authors: Philosof, Alon, Béjà, Oded
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2013; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Archaea - genetics; Archaea - metabolism; Archaeal Proteins - classification; Archaeal Proteins - genetics; Archaeal Proteins - metabolism; Bacteria; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - metabolism; Bacterial Proteins - classification; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Ecosystem; Genes; Genetic testing; Genomes; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Indian Ocean; Metagenome; Microbial Consortia; Microorganisms; Molecular Sequence Data; Phycodnaviridae - genetics; Phycodnaviridae - metabolism; Protons; Rhodopsin; Rhodopsin - classification; Rhodopsin - genetics; Rhodopsin - metabolism; RNA, Messenger - classification; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Sequence Alignment; Surface water; Viral Proteins - classification; Viral Proteins - genetics; Viral Proteins - metabolism; Viruses; Indian Ocean; Red Sea; Gulf of Aqaba
• ISSN: 1758-2229; 1758-2229
• DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.12037

Summary The Gulf of Aqaba, extending north to the Red Sea, is an oligotrophic basin with typical open ocean gyre characteristics. Here we report on the existence of diverse microbial rhodopsins in the Gulf of Aqaba, based on 454‐pyrosequencing‐generated metagenome and metatranscriptome data sets, obtained from the microbial fraction smaller than 1.6 μm. Bacterial SAR11, SAR86 and archaeal proteorhodopsins as well as viral‐like rhodopsins were detected on the DNA level. On the RNA level, only SAR11 and SAR86 proteorhodopsin transcripts were detected. Our results add to the growing evidence that microbial rhodopsins are a diverse, abundant and widespread protein family.