Lecture 7b- microbial diversity part 2

Question 1

phylogenetically what are the 5 phyla archaea are split into?

Answer 1

euryarchaeota
nanoarchaeota
korarchaeota
crenarchaeota
thaumarchaeota

Question 2

what is an example of an extreme halophile in the phyla euryarchaeota?

Answer 2

halobacteria/ haloarchaea

Question 3

where are halobacteria found?

Answer 3

in solar salt evaporation ponds and salt lakes where the salt concentration approaches saturation (dead sea, great salt lake) as well as places like soda lakes where theres high alkaline hypersaline

Question 4

what kind of adaptations are used for archaea in highly ionic environments?

Answer 4

accumulate solutes to change the osmotic balance

Question 5

what specifically does halobacterium salinarum do to deal with high salt concentration environments?

Answer 5

pumps large amounts of K+ into the cell from the environment so that more water will enter the cell and osmotic balance can be achieved

Question 6

some haloarchaea have a unique system for generating energy, how does it work?

Answer 6

uses a pigment called bacteriorhodopsin which is an integral membrane protein that absorbs light energy and pumps proteins across the membrane to make a PMF, PMF generates ATP.
DO NOT FIX CO2

Question 7

what phyla are methanogenic archaea from?

Answer 7

euyarchaeota

Question 8

what is unique about methanogenic archaea?

Answer 8

only microbes capable of significant methane production

Question 9

an example of methanogenic archaea is methanobacterium, what do they do?

Answer 9

produce the bulk of CH4 in the atmosphere (important green house gas)

Question 10

what is methanobacterium’s oxygen requirements? where do they live

Answer 10

strict anaerobes
found in cows gut, sewage sludge

Question 11

what kind of cell walls do methanobacterium have?

Answer 11

pseudomurein (similar structure to peptidoglycan but not as similar of composition)
only the methanobacteriales family within methanogenic archaea possess this type of cell wall

Question 12

what is the common cell wall type of methanogenic archaea?

Answer 12

S-layer made of protein or glycoprotein as their cell wall

Question 13

what does the phyla thaumarchaeota do?

Answer 13

carries out nitrification

Question 14

Nitrosopumilus maritimus is an example of a thaumarchaeota, what are its oxygen requirements? what energy class is it?

Answer 14

aerobic
ammonia oxidizing chemolithoautotroph

Question 15

if Nitrosopumilus maritimus are ammonia oxidizing chemolithoautotrophs what do they do?

Answer 15

convert ammonia into Nitrogen Dioxide for energy
uses CO2 for carbon

Question 16

where are Nitrosopumilus maritimus found?

Answer 16

in the ocean where they are a major player in nitrogen cycling

Question 17

what phyla are Nanoarchaeum equitans in?

Answer 17

Nanoarchaeota

Question 18

what is the phyla Nanoarchaeota known for?

Answer 18

being small (nano=small)

Question 19

what is Nanoarchaeum equitans oxygen requirements?

Answer 19

obligate parasite thus is dependent on host for cellular needs

Question 20

what is unique about Nanoarchaeum equitans? what do they lack?

Answer 20

have one of the smallest genomes known
lack genes for all but core molecular processes

Question 21

what phyla is Korarchaeum cryptofilum apart of?

Answer 21

korarchaeota

Question 22

what oxygen requirements does Korarchaeum cryptofilum have? what temperature requirements?

Answer 22

obligately anaerobic chemoorganotroph
hyperthermophile

Question 23

what does it mean if Korarchaeum cryptofilum cant yet be grown in pure culture?

Answer 23

it lacks many core genes and depends on other members of hot springs community

Question 24

what temperature requirements does crenarchaeota have?

Answer 24

hyperthermophiles (found in very hot environments)

Question 25

what energy class does crenarchaeota have?

Answer 25

chemoorganotrophs or chemolithotrophs

Question 26

what do crenarchaeota use in their metabolism?

Answer 26

sulfur

Question 27

sulfolobus acidocaldarius is an example of crenarchaeota, where does it grow?

Answer 27

in sulfur rich acidic hot springs (~90C, pH 2)
hyperthermophile and acidophile

Question 28

what is sulfolobus acidocaldarius oxygen requirements?

Answer 28

aerobic chemolithotroph that oxidizes reduced sulfur or iron

Question 29

what is the asgard superphylum of archaea?

Answer 29

archaea only known from sequence analyses from metagenomes, very recent so ecological functions of these groups are unknown

Question 30

how did the asgard super phylum of archaea break down the group into different phyla?

Answer 30

broken down based on the Norse gods (Lokiarchaeota, odinarchaeota, thorarchaeota, heimdallarchaeota)

Question 31

what can the asgard superphylum of archaea determine?

Answer 31

the “missing link” between archaea and eukarya
because members of this superphylum contain versions of genes previously though to have been eukaryote- specific