Metabolic response of a chemolithoautotrophic archaeon to carbon limitation
- Author(s)
- Logan H Hodgskiss, Melina Kerou, Zhen-Hao Luo, Barbara Bayer, Andreas Maier, Wolfram Weckwerth, Thomas Nägele, Christa Schleper
- Abstract
The ubiquitously distributed ammonia-oxidizing archaea generate energy
from ammonia and build cell mass from inorganic carbon sources, thereby
contributing to both the global nitrogen and carbon cycles. However,
little is known about the regulation of their predicted core carbon
metabolism. A thermodynamic model for Nitrososphaera viennensis
was developed to estimate the consumption of inorganic carbon in
relation to ammonia consumed for energy and was tested experimentally by
growing cells in carbon-limited and excess conditions. A combined
proteomic and metabolomic approach to the experimental conditions
revealed distinct metabolic adaptation depending on the amount of carbon
supplied, either in a catalase or pyruvate background as a reactive
oxygen species scavenger. Integration of protein and metabolite dynamics
revealed a cellular strategy under carbon limitation to maintain a pool
of amino acids and an upregulation of proteins necessary for
translation initiation to stay primed for protein synthesis. The
combination of modeling and functional genomics fills gaps in the
understanding of the central metabolism and its regulation in a
chemolithoautotrophic, ammonia-oxidizing archaeon, even in the absence
of available genetic tools.
- Organisation(s)
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Department of Geography and Regional Research
- External organisation(s)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
- Journal
- mSystems
- Volume
- 10
- Pages
- 1-20
- No. of pages
- 20
- ISSN
- 2379-5077
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00732-25
- Publication date
- 10-2025
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106022 Microbiology
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Physiology, Biochemistry, Modelling and Simulation, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Computer Science Applications
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ffdca77d-a702-47cb-9b2b-631011b6eb19