A novel Thermotoga strain TFO isolated from a Californian petroleum reservoir phylogenetically related to Thermotoga petrophila and T. naphthophila, two thermophilic anaerobic isolates from a Japanese reservoir: Taxonomic and genomic considerations.

Hot oil reservoirs harbor diverse microbial communities, with many of them inhabiting thermophilic or hyperthermophilic fermentative Thermotogae species. A new Thermotoga sp. strain TFO was isolated from an Californian offshore oil reservoir which is phylogenetically related to thermophilic species T. petrophila RKU-1T and T. naphthophila RKU-10T, isolated from the Kubiki oil reservoir in Japan. The average nucleotide identity and DNA-DNA hybridization measures provide evidence that the novel strain TFO is closely related to T. naphthophila RKU-10T, T. petrophila RKU-1T and can not be differentiated at the species level. In the light of these results, the reclassification of T. naphthophila RKU-10 and strain TFO as heterotypic synonyms of T. petrophila is proposed. A pangenomic survey of closely related species revealed 55 TFO strain-specific proteins, many of which being linked to glycosyltransferases and mobile genetic elements such as recombinases, transposases and prophage, which can contribute to genome evolution and plasticity, promoting bacterial diversification and adaptation to environmental changes. The discovery of a TFO-specific transport system dctPQM, encoding a tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic transporter (TRAP), has to be highlighted. The presence of this TRAP system assumes that it could assist in anaerobic n-alkane degradation by addition of fumarate dicarboxylic acid, suggesting a niche-specific gene pool which correlates with the oil reservoir that T. petrophila TFO inhabits. Finally, T. naphthophila RKU-10, T. petrophila RKU-1T, T. petrophila TFO form a distinct phylogenetic lineage with different geographic origins, share the same type of ecological niche including the burial history of fields. Theses findings might support the indigenous character of this species in oil reservoirs.

Reconstructing organisms in silico: genome-scale models and their emerging applications.

Escherichia coli is considered to be the best-known microorganism given the large number of published studies detailing its genes, its genome and the biochemical functions of its molecular components. This vast literature has been systematically assembled into a reconstruction of the biochemical reaction networks that underlie E. coli's functions, a process which is now being applied to an increasing number of microorganisms. Genome-scale reconstructed networks are organized and systematized knowledge bases that have multiple uses, including conversion into computational models that interpret and predict phenotypic states and the consequences of environmental and genetic perturbations. These genome-scale models (GEMs) now enable us to develop pan-genome analyses that provide mechanistic insights, detail the selection pressures on proteome allocation and address stress phenotypes. In this Review, we first discuss the overall development of GEMs and their applications. Next, we review the evolution of the most complete GEM that has been developed to date: the E. coli GEM. Finally, we explore three emerging areas in genome-scale modelling of microbial phenotypes: collections of strain-specific models, metabolic and macromolecular expression models, and simulation of stress responses.