ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Aquatic Microbiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1608951
This article is part of the Research TopicExploration of Marine Microorganisms for Sustainable BiotechnologyView all articles
Genomic evolution and adaptive divergence of anabolic and catabolic ecotypes in thraustochytrids: comparative genomics and phylogenetic perspectives
Provisionally accepted
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
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Thraustochytrids are unicellular heterotrophic protists of the Stramenopiles group that are widely distributed in the oceans. The mechanism of metabolic ecotype evolution of thraustochytrids as key drivers of the marine carbon cycle is a breakthrough in understanding the environmental adaptation of marine microorganisms. In this study, we reported a high-quality thraustochytrid genome of Aurantiochytrium sp. TWZ-97, and provided an analysis of different ecotypes of strains in terms of genome structure, evolutionary-developmental relationships, and core functional genes using comparative genomics. Comparative genomics revealed that the “anabolic” strains (TWZ-97, Mn4, SW8) have larger genomes with lower gene density, while the “catabolic” strains (S-28, S-429) exhibit smaller and gene-rich genomes with stable repetitive sequence. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the “anabolic” strains TWZ-97, Mn4, and SW8 diverged at 2.389 Mya (million years ago), indicating closely related differentiation, while the “catabolic” strains evolved independently for more than 190.7 Mya and underwent a long period of independent adaptation. In terms of core functional genes, the “anabolic” strains were enriched in fatty acid synthase genes, whereas hydrolytic enzyme genes were exclusively identified in the “catabolic” strains. In addition, both ecotypes exhibited a significant quantitative advantage in fatty acid desaturase (FAD) genes, while polyketide synthase (PKS) genes featured unique long sequences and multi-domain architectures, and there is a type-specific differentiation of the PKS genes. This study provides key molecular evidences for the genetic basis of metabolic division of labor and ecotype differentiation in thraustochytrids.
Keywords: Thraustochytrids, whole genome sequencing, Comparative genomics, Ecotype differentiation, fatty acid biosynthesis
Received: 16 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wen, Zhu, Li, Liu, Li and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guangyi Wang, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
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