PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Microbiol., 13 March 2023

Sec. Extreme Microbiology

Volume 14 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1111472

Understanding the mechanisms of halotolerance in members of Pontixanthobacter and Allopontixanthobacter by comparative genome analysis

  • 1. Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Ministry of Natural Resources and Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China

  • 2. College of Life Sciences and Medicine, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China

  • 3. School of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

  • 4. Institute of Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China, Shanghai, China

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Abstract

Halotolerant microorganisms have developed versatile mechanisms for coping with saline stress. With the increasing number of isolated halotolerant strains and their genomes being sequenced, comparative genome analysis would help understand the mechanisms of salt tolerance. Six type strains of Pontixanthobacter and Allopontixanthobacter, two phylogenetically close genera, were isolated from diverse salty environments and showed different NaCl tolerances, from 3 to 10% (w/v). Based on the co-occurrence greater than 0.8 between halotolerance and open reading frame (ORF) among the six strains, possible explanations for halotolerance were discussed regarding osmolyte, membrane permeability, transportation, intracellular signaling, polysaccharide biosynthesis, and SOS response, which provided hypotheses for further investigations. The strategy of analyzing genome-wide co-occurrence between genetic diversity and physiological characteristics sheds light on how microorganisms adapt to the environment.

Introduction

Halotolerance is a relative term that refers to the ability to tolerate salt concentrations higher than those necessary for growth, and microorganisms are considered halotolerant if they survive at high salt concentrations but do not require these conditions for growth (Anton, 2014). With advances in technology, halotolerance mechanisms have been investigated using omics approaches. For instance, comparative transcriptomic and physiological analysis revealed that the halotolerant bacterium Egicoccus halophilus EGI 80432T increased inorganic ions uptake and accumulated trehalose and glutamate in response to moderate salinity condition, while the high salt condition led to up-regulated transcription of genes required for the synthesis of compatible solutes, such as glutamate, histidine, threonine, proline, and ectoine (Chen et al., 2021). The role of glutamate as a key compatible solute for halotolerance was also reported in a halotolerant strain of Staphylococcus saprophyticus based on transcriptome comparison of cells cultivated in media containing different concentrations of NaCl (0, 10, and 20%; Jo et al., 2022). In the exoproteome of the halotolerant bacterium Tistlia consotensis grown at high salinity, proteins associated with osmosensing, exclusion of Na+ and transport of compatible solutes, such as glycine betaine or proline are abundant (Rubiano-Labrador et al., 2015). Similarly, the proteomic analysis of halotolerant nodule endophytes, Rahnella aquatilis strain Ra4 and Serratia plymuthica strain Sp2 identified that different trans-membrane ABC transporters (ATP-binding cassettes) were the most represented among the up-regulated proteins in response to salt stress (Novello et al., 2022). Moreover, the proteome comparison of halotolerant bacterium Staphylococcus aureus under different osmotic stress conditions revealed the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) involved in fatty acid synthesis, proline/glycine betaine biosynthesis and transportation, stress tolerance, cell wall biosynthesis, and the TCA cycle, which may contribute to the osmotic stress tolerance of S. aureus (Ming et al., 2019). These findings shed light on halotolerance mechanisms. However, halotolerance-related genes may be ignored in transcriptomic and proteomic comparison if there is no significant change in their expression under the experimental conditions.

Genomic comparisons

Genomic comparisons of closely related halotolerant microorganisms can identify genes conserved among species as well as genes that may give an organism its unique characteristics, which helps to understand the mechanisms of salt tolerance. For example, through comparative genome analysis it was uncovered that the members of Acidihalobacter genus contained similar genes for the synthesis and transport of ectoine, as well as genes encoding low affinity potassium pumps. Variations were observed in genes encoding high affinity potassium pumps and proteins involved in the synthesis and/or transport of periplasmic glucans, sucrose, proline, taurine, and glycine betaine (Khaleque et al., 2019). To elucidate salt adaptation strategies in Nitriliruptoria, the genomes of five members from group Nitriliruptoria were analyzed. The results showed that Nitriliruptoria harbor similar synthesis systems of solutes, such as trehalose, glutamine, glutamate, and proline, and on the other hand each member of Nitriliruptoria species possesses specific mechanisms, K+ influx and efflux, betaine and ectoine synthesis, and compatible solutes transport (Chen et al., 2020). Using whole-genome analysis, the halotolerant strains of Martelella soudanensis, NC18T and NC20, were predicted to harbor various halotolerant-associated genes, including K+ uptake protein, K+ transport system, ectoine transport system, glycine betaine transport system, and glycine betaine uptake protein, indicating that strains NC18T and NC20 might tolerate high salinity through the accumulation of potassium ions, ectoine, glycine betaine (Lee and Kim, 2022). Although these findings help to understand the versatile mechanisms of halotolerance existing in halotolerant microbes, genomic comparisons are usually based on genome-wide searches for homologs of known halotolerance-related genes, such as those involved in K+ and Na+ influx and efflux and the synthesis and transport of compatible solutes.

The aim of this perspective is to provide new insights into the development of novel hypotheses and promote further studies on the halotolerance mechanisms. Therefore, co-occurrence analysis between halotolerance and open reading frames (ORFs) was performed to provide intuitive information on halotolerance.

Strains used for analysis

Microorganisms develop abilities that enable them to deal with evolutionary pressure from the environment, such as salinity, temperature, and the power of hydrogen (pH). The phylogenetically closely related strains, which showed similar growth temperature and pH range but different halotolerance, would simplify the analysis. Furthermore, considering the ionic strength of different media may affect the cell growth, the tolerance to NaCl used for co-occurrence analysis should be determined by using same medium. Herein six type strains from two phylogenetically close genera, Pontixanthobacter and Allopontixanthobacter, were chosen for this study. Because of their close phylogenetic relationship, Allopontixanthobacter sediminis and Allopontixanthobacter confluentis have been previously classified as Pontixanthobacter species (Xu et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2021b), and later were reclassified as Allopontixanthobacter species (Xu et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2021a,b). Notably, all the type strains belonging to the two genera were isolated from the Yellow Sea and surrounding areas, but from diverse salty environments, such as Pontixanthobacter aestiaquae KCTC 42006T and Pontixanthobacter rizhaonensis KCTC 62828T from seawater (Jung et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2021b), Pontixanthobacter gangjinensis JCM 17802T and Pontixanthobacter luteolus KCTC 12311T from tidal flat (Yoon et al., 2005; Jeong et al., 2013), Pontixanthobacter aquaemixtae KCTC 52763T from the junction between ocean and fresh spring (Park et al., 2017), A. sediminis KCTC 42453T from lagoon sediments (Kim et al., 2016), and A. confluentis KCTC 52259T from water of estuary environment (Park et al., 2017). These strains showed similar optimum NaCl concentrations for growth (1–3%, w/v), but displayed different halotolerances, from 3 to 10% (w/v; Table 1), indicating that these strains adapt to their diverse habitats, including lagoon, junction between ocean and fresh spring, tidal flat, and seawater. The availability of their genomes provides remarkable opportunity to understand their different halotolerances by comparative genome analysis. Here, co-occurrence between halotolerance and the open reading frames (ORFs) was calculated among six strains of Pontixanthobacter and Allopontixanthobacter, and the ORFs showing high co-occurrence were discussed for possible contribution to halotolerance.

Table 1

SpeciesStrainMaximum NaCl (%, w/v)Optimum NaCl (%, w/v)HabitatGenBank accession number
Pontixanthobacter aestiaquaeKCTC 42006102–3SeawaterGCF_009827455.1_ASM982745v1
Pontixanthobacter gangjinensisJCM 1780292Tidal flatGCF_009827545.1_ASM982754v1
Pontixanthobacter luteolusKCTC 1231192Tidal flatGCF_009828095.1_ASM982809v1
Pontixanthobacter aquaemixtaeKCTC 5276352Junction between ocean and fresh springGCF_009827395.1_ASM982739v1
Allopontixanthobacter sediminisKCTC 4245341Lagoon sedimentsGCF_009828115.1_ASM982811v1
Allopontixanthobacter confluentisKCTC 5225931–2Water of estuary environmentGCF_009827615.1_ASM982761v1

Strains used for analysis in this study.

The tolerance of NaCl for all the six strains were investigated based on marine broth (MB). The strain Pontixanthobacter rizhaonensis KCTC 62828T was excluded from this study, because it is tested on different medium (Liu et al., 2020, 2021b).

Clusters highly co-occurred with halotolerance

Open reading frames in the six genomes were predicted and clustered based on similarity using R package micropan (Snipen and Liland, 2015). Analysis of co-occurrence between ORFs and the maximum NaCl concentration tolerated among the six strains was conducted, and 113 clusters of ORFs were identified with co-occurrence greater than 0.8 (Table 2). The co-occurrence for the remaining clusters is listed in Supplementary material, as well as ORFs predicted in the six genomes and the index for clusters and ORFs. ORFs were annotated by searching standard database using protein–protein BLAST.1

Table 2

ClusterCo-occurrenceAnnotation
Cluster_1110.97TauD/TfdA family dioxygenase
Cluster_2290.97Hypothetical protein
Cluster_5930.97Metal-dependent hydrolase
Cluster_7620.97TonB-dependent receptor
Cluster_13740.97Carbon-nitrogen hydrolase family protein
Cluster_15480.97Sterol desaturase family protein
Cluster_15490.97Endonuclease/exonuclease/phosphatase family protein
Cluster_17060.97Hypothetical protein
Cluster_17400.97ABC transporter ATP-binding protein
Cluster_18990.97VirB4 family type IV secretion/conjugal transfer ATPase
Cluster_20620.97Polysaccharide pyruvyl transferase family protein
Cluster_20630.97Hypothetical protein
Cluster_20650.97EpsG family protein
Cluster_20670.97Glycosyltransferase
Cluster_20690.97Polysaccharide biosynthesis C-terminal domain-containing protein
Cluster_20710.97KpsF/GutQ family sugar-phosphate isomerase
Cluster_20740.973-Deoxy-manno-octulosonate cytidylyltransferase
Cluster_20760.973-Deoxy-8-phosphooctulonate synthase
Cluster_24010.97Hypothetical protein
Cluster_25360.97Histone deacetylase
Cluster_26700.97Hypothetical protein
Cluster_26770.97SOS response-associated peptidase family protein
Cluster_6140.87Putative quinol monooxygenase
Cluster_14400.86Tail fiber protein
Cluster_16330.842OG-Fe(II) oxygenase
Cluster_110.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_120.81DUF885 domain-containing protein
Cluster_590.81PspA/IM30 family protein
Cluster_1130.81Hydantoinase B/oxoprolinase family protein
Cluster_1150.81DUF969 domain-containing protein
Cluster_1160.81DUF979 domain-containing protein
Cluster_1170.81DUF2891 domain-containing protein
Cluster_1510.81Aldolase/citrate lyase family protein
Cluster_1550.81Methyltransferase domain-containing protein
Cluster_1660.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_2080.81Trigger factor
Cluster_2940.81Enoyl-CoA hydratase-related protein
Cluster_3360.81Aspartyl/asparaginyl beta-hydroxylase domain-containing protein
Cluster_3950.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_5510.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_5950.81DUF4167 domain-containing protein
Cluster_6870.81Amidohydrolase family protein
Cluster_7120.81TonB-dependent receptor
Cluster_7290.81OmpH family outer membrane protein
Cluster_7520.81PilZ domain-containing protein
Cluster_8750.81BCCT family transporter
Cluster_8790.81Cell division protein ZapA
Cluster_8950.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_9830.81GNAT family N-acetyltransferase
Cluster_10810.81DUF805 domain-containing protein
Cluster_10890.81Aminotransferase class IV
Cluster_10900.81Sulfotransferase
Cluster_11320.81Pilus assembly protein TadG-related protein
Cluster_12820.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_12890.81SDR family oxidoreductase
Cluster_13150.81CinA family protein
Cluster_13280.81Amidohydrolase
Cluster_13400.81Glutathione S-transferase family protein
Cluster_13640.81M2 family metallopeptidase
Cluster_14650.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_14910.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_14950.81Serine hydrolase
Cluster_14990.81MarR family transcriptional regulator
Cluster_15650.81Thioesterase family protein
Cluster_15750.81LysR family transcriptional regulator
Cluster_15780.81NAD(P)H-dependent oxidoreductase
Cluster_16630.81Prolyl oligopeptidase family serine peptidase
Cluster_17380.81Lasso peptide biosynthesis B2 protein
Cluster_17390.81Nucleotidyltransferase family protein
Cluster_17410.81Sulfotransferase
Cluster_17420.81Aspartyl beta-hydroxylase
Cluster_17430.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_17440.81Sulfotransferase domain-containing protein
Cluster_17460.81PqqD family protein
Cluster_17470.81Asparagine synthase-related protein
Cluster_17480.81Glycosyltransferase
Cluster_18380.81DUF3142 domain-containing protein
Cluster_18390.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_18620.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_18830.81Isopropylmalate isomerase
Cluster_18960.81Conjugal transfer protein TrbI
Cluster_19010.81VirB3 family type IV secretion system protein
Cluster_19540.81TrbG/VirB9 family P-type conjugative transfer protein
Cluster_19550.81VirB8/TrbF family protein
Cluster_19560.81Type IV secretion system protein
Cluster_20190.81Dipeptidase
Cluster_20220.81Glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase family protein
Cluster_20520.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_20590.81O-antigen ligase family protein
Cluster_21050.81GNAT family N-acetyltransferase
Cluster_21710.81Divalent-cation tolerance protein CutA
Cluster_22090.81DUF2183 domain-containing protein
Cluster_22410.81FKBP-type peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase
Cluster_23020.81Carbohydrate porin
Cluster_23290.81N-acetyltransferase
Cluster_23450.81NADH:flavin oxidoreductase/NADH oxidase family protein
Cluster_23740.81AI-2E family transporter
Cluster_23840.81Endonuclease III
Cluster_24020.81RNA polymerase sigma factor
Cluster_24080.81GntP family permease
Cluster_24200.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_24250.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_24730.81GtrA family protein
Cluster_24740.81Ferritin-like domain-containing protein
Cluster_24750.81Peroxide stress protein YaaA
Cluster_25200.81DsrE family protein
Cluster_25440.81Hypothetical protein
Cluster_25450.81DNA-binding domain-containing protein
Cluster_25460.81Alpha/beta hydrolase
Cluster_25620.81LytTR family DNA-binding domain-containing protein
Cluster_25730.81DUF2306 domain-containing protein
Cluster_26440.81DUF6356 family protein
Cluster_26710.81DUF1295 domain-containing protein

Clusters highly co-occurred with halotolerance.

Osmolyte

The ORFs of Cluster_111 (co-occurrence of 0.97, Table 2) were annotated as TauD/TfdA family dioxygenase. TauD is involved in the utilization of taurine (VanderPloeg et al., 1996), an organic osmolyte involved in cell volume regulation (Harris and Wen, 2012). Taurine is used as an osmoprotectant, such as in Escherichia coli at high osmolarity (McLaggan and Epstein, 1991) and in microbial communities from biofilms in metal-rich environment (Mosier et al., 2013). The ORFs of Cluster_111 only exist in three halotolerant strains, suggesting that taurine may be accumulated as an osmoprotectant. Interestingly, halotolerant strains harbor genes involved in various pathways related to glutamate generation. For instance, according to annotation, ORFs of Cluster_113 (co-occurrence of 0.81, Table 2) belong to the hydantoinase B/oxoprolinase family, which includes 5-oxoprolinase, catalyzing the formation of L-glutamate from 5-oxo-L-proline (Niehaus et al., 2017). Besides, ORFs of Cluster_1328 (co-occurrence of 0.81, Table 2) possess similarity to p-aminobenzoyl-glutamate (PABA-GLU) hydrolase subunit from Altererythrobacter insulae (GenBank Accession Number: RGP41665.1). PABA-GLU is a folate catabolite found in bacteria, and the enzyme PABA-GLU hydrolase breaks down PABA-GLU by cleaving glutamate (Larimer et al., 2014). Additionally, ORFs of Cluster_1747 (co-occurrence of 0.81 Table 2) showed similarity to asparagine synthase from Salinigranum halophilum (GenBank Accession Number: WP_136601134.1). Asparagine synthetase catalyzes an ATP-dependent amidotransferase reaction between aspartate and glutamine, which produces asparagine and glutamate (Richards and Kilberg, 2006).

Permeability

To ensure a physiologically acceptable level of cellular hydration and turgor at high osmolarity, many bacteria accumulate compatible solutes as osmoprotectants (Ziegler et al., 2010). ORFs of Cluster_875 (co-occurrence of 0.81, Table 2) were annotated as proteins of Betaine/Carnitine/Choline Transporter (BCCT) family. The BCCT family includes transporters for carnitine, choline and glycine betaine, and some of which exhibit osmosensory and osmoregulatory properties (Ziegler et al., 2010). Furthermore, the ORFs of Cluster_1740, annotated as ABC transporter ATP-binding proteins, were present only in these three halotolerant strains. The salt-induced ABC transporter Ota from Methanosarcina mazei Gö1 acts as a glycine betaine transporter (Schmidt et al., 2007). Another ABC transporter in Listeria, OpuC, is shown to be necessary for glycine betaine and choline chloride uptake (Verheul et al., 1997). Compared to the wild type of S. aureus, mutating OpuC did reduce their ability to grow under osmotic stress (10% NaCl; Kiran et al., 2009). The function of ORFs of Cluster_1740 and their contribution to halotolerance can be further characterized. Additionally, previous studies have shown that water permeability is clearly affected by the number of double bonds in the fatty acid conjugates of lipids, the higher the degree of unsaturation, the greater the water permeability (Graziani and Livne, 1972), and sterol type is one of the determining factors in the permeability of membranes to small solutes (Frallicciardi et al., 2022). The genomes of three halotolerant strains contain ORFs of Cluster_1548, annotated as sterol desaturase family proteins, indicating that sterols might be used to change permeability.

Cell signaling

Cluster_1549 also consists of three ORFs present in the three halotolerant strains, which showed similarity to the domain superfamily found in a large number of proteins including magnesium dependent endonucleases and phosphatases involved in intracellular signaling (Dlakic, 2000). Its role in the regulation of gene expression, such as triggering the salt-stress response, is worth of further study.

Polysaccharide

It has been reported that extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) may influence the salt tolerance of certain rhizobial strains (Samir and Kanak, 1997) and the lipopolysaccharide pattern could alter according to different salinities in a salt-tolerant strain of Mesorhizobium cicero (Soussi et al., 2001). All three halotolerant strains harbor ORFs annotated with polysaccharide/lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis (Cluster_2062, 2065, 2067, 2069, 2071, 2074, and 2076 in Table 2), such as 3-deoxy-d-manno-octulosonate cytidylyltransferase, a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in Gram-negative organisms (Yi et al., 2011). Furthermore, ORFs of Cluster_2473 (co-occurrence as 0.81 Table 2) were annotated to encode proteins of the GtrA family, whose members are often involved in the synthesis of cell surface polysaccharides (Kolly et al., 2015).

DNA repair

Open reading frames of Cluster_2677 are annotated encoding SOS response-associated peptidase family protein. The bacterial SOS response induced under stress conditions is recruited to DNA repair and adaptive mutagenesis (Shinagawa, 1996; Aravind et al., 2013). Hence, ORFs of Cluster_2677 could be further investigated for its importance to halotolerance.

Discussion

Salinity is one of the most important environmental factors for aquatic microorganisms and varies among habitats. Therefore, halotolerant microorganisms have developed versatile strategies to cope with saline stress. Based on the findings of co-occurrence analysis, possible explanations for mechanisms resulting in different salt tolerances among six strains are discussed above, which provided hypotheses for further investigations. Moreover, among the highly co-occurred clusters, there are several uncharacterized or hypothetical proteins (Table 2), which may contribute to halotolerance. It should be noted that the genes related to resistance to salts other than sodium chloride could also be discovered by co-occurrence analysis, since various salts co-exist in high ionic environments. For instance, ORFs of Cluster_2171 (co-occurrence as 0.81, Table 2) were annotated as divalent-cation tolerance protein CutA, which is required for copper tolerance in E. coli and affects tolerance levels to zinc, nickel, cobalt, and cadmium salts (Fong et al., 1995). This study sheds light on the mechanisms through which microorganisms cope with environmental stress. With the increasing number of isolated halotolerant strains and their genomes being sequenced, analyzing genome-wide co-occurrence between genetic diversity and physiological characteristics would expand the knowledge of the salinity adaptation strategies and provide comprehensive information on how microorganisms adapt to the environment, together with findings at the transcriptomic and proteomic levels.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Science and Technology Fundamental Resources Investigation Program of China (2021FY100900), the Scientific Research Fund of the Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR (No. JZ1901 and JB2003), Natural Science Foundation of China (32000001), and the Oceanic Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SL2022ZD108).

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1111472/full#supplementary-material

Statements

Data availability statement

Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Accession Numbers are as follows: GCF_009827455.1_ASM982745v1, GCF_009827545.1_ASM982754v1, GCF_009828095.1_ASM982809v1, GCF_009827395.1_ASM982739v1, GCF_009828115.1_ASM982811v1, and GCF_009827615.1_ASM982761v1.

Author contributions

PZ contributed to study concept and design and performed data acquisition, analysis and visualization, and interpretation of results. PZ and Y-XB drafted the manuscript. LX, X-WX, and H-BS revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Summary

Keywords

halotolerance, co-occurrence, comparative genomics, Erythrobacteraceae, adaptation

Citation

Zhou P, Bu Y-X, Xu L, Xu X-W and Shen H-B (2023) Understanding the mechanisms of halotolerance in members of Pontixanthobacter and Allopontixanthobacter by comparative genome analysis. Front. Microbiol. 14:1111472. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1111472

Received

29 November 2022

Accepted

16 February 2023

Published

13 March 2023

Volume

14 - 2023

Edited by

Rosa María Martínez-Espinosa, University of Alicante, Spain

Reviewed by

Kesava Priyan Ramasamy, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Updates

Copyright

*Correspondence: Peng Zhou,

This article was submitted to Extreme Microbiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology

Disclaimer

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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