Comparison of prokaryotes between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench

Yongqin Liu; Zhihao Zhang; Mukan Ji; Aoran Hu; Jing Wang; Hongmei Jing; Keshao Liu; Xiang Xiao; Weishu Zhao

doi:10.1186/s40168-022-01403-y

Comparison of prokaryotes between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench

Microbiome. 2022 Dec 7;10(1):215. doi: 10.1186/s40168-022-01403-y.

Authors

Yongqin Liu^#^{1

2}, Zhihao Zhang^#², Mukan Ji¹, Aoran Hu^{3

4}, Jing Wang^{4

5

6}, Hongmei Jing⁷, Keshao Liu², Xiang Xiao^{8

9

10

11}, Weishu Zhao^{12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Pan-third Pole Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁴ International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁵ School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁶ SJTU Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Sci-Tech, Yongyou Industrial Park, Sanya, 572024, China.
⁷ Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zjxiao2018@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁹ International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zjxiao2018@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ SJTU Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Sci-Tech, Yongyou Industrial Park, Sanya, 572024, China. zjxiao2018@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹¹ Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, Guangdong, China. zjxiao2018@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹² State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zwsh88@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹³ International Center for Deep Life Investigation (IC-DLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. zwsh88@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹⁴ SJTU Yazhou Bay Institute of Deepsea Sci-Tech, Yongyou Industrial Park, Sanya, 572024, China. zwsh88@sjtu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench represent the highest and deepest places on Earth, respectively. They are geographically separated, with distinct extreme environmental parameters that provide unique habitats for prokaryotes. Comparison of prokaryotes between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench will provide a unique perspective to understanding the composition and distribution of environmental microbiomes on Earth.

Results: Here, we compared prokaryotic communities between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench based on shotgun metagenomic analysis. Analyzing 25 metagenomes and 1176 metagenome-assembled genomes showed distinct taxonomic compositions between Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench, with little taxa overlap, and significant differences in genome size, GC content, and predicted optimal growth temperature. However, community metabolic capabilities exhibited striking commonality, with > 90% of metabolic modules overlapping among samples of Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench, with the only exception for CO₂ fixations (photoautotrophy in Mount Everest but chemoautotrophy in the Mariana Trench). Most metabolic pathways were common but performed by distinct taxa in the two extreme habitats, even including some specialized metabolic pathways, such as the versatile degradation of various refractory organic matters, heavy metal metabolism (e.g., As and Se), stress resistance, and antioxidation. The metabolic commonality indicated the overall consistent roles of prokaryotes in elemental cycling and common adaptation strategies to overcome the distinct stress conditions despite the intuitively huge differences in Mount Everest and the Mariana Trench.

Conclusion: Our results, the first comparison between prokaryotes in the highest and the deepest habitats on Earth, may highlight the principles of prokaryotic diversity: although taxa are habitat-specific, primary metabolic functions could be always conserved. Video abstract.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Mariana Trench; Metabolic capability; Mount Everest; Prokaryotic community; Shotgun metagenomics.

Publication types

Video-Audio Media
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bicycling*
Metagenomics*