Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 2011 Sep;193(18):5047–5048. doi: 10.1128/JB.05521-11

Genome Sequence of Nitrosomonas sp. Strain AL212, an Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacterium Sensitive to High Levels of Ammonia

Suwa Yuichi 1, Jeanette M Norton 2,*, Annette Bollmann 3, Martin G Klotz 4, Lisa Y Stein 5, Hendrikus J Laanbroek 6, Daniel J Arp 7, Lynne A Goodwin 8, Olga Chertkov 8, Brittany Held 8, David Bruce 8, J Chris Detter 8, Janine C Detter 8, Roxanne Tapia 8, Cliff S Han 8
PMCID: PMC3165687  PMID: 21868805

Abstract

Nitrosomonas sp. strain AL212 is an obligate chemolithotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacterium (AOB) that was originally isolated in 1997 by Yuichi Suwa and colleagues. This organism belongs to Nitrosomonas cluster 6A, which is characterized by sensitivity to high ammonia concentrations, higher substrate affinity (lower Km), and lower maximum growth rates than strains in Nitrosomonas cluster 7, which includes Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrosomonas eutropha. Genome-informed studies of this ammonia-sensitive cohort of AOB are needed, as these bacteria are found in freshwater environments, drinking water supplies, wastewater treatment systems, and soils worldwide.

GENOME ANNOUNCEMENT

Nitrosomonas sp. strain AL212 belongs to cluster 6A nitrosomonads (20), a group characterized by higher substrate affinity (low Km), lower maximum growth rates, and increased sensitivity to high ammonia/ammonium compared to Nitrosomonas strains in cluster 7 (13), including the genome-sequenced species Nitrosomonas europaea (4) and Nitrosomonas eutropha (18). These characteristics improve their ability to grow at low substrate concentrations (<1.0 mM), and this has been key to their isolation and enrichment (3, 19). Investigations into the molecular underpinnings of ammonia sensitivity in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) continue, as related organisms are commonly detected in drinking water supply and wastewater treatment systems (16, 17), freshwater environments (2, 11), and soils (13) worldwide.

The Nitrosomonas sp. strain AL212 culture was revived from a frozen stock and cultivated, and genomic DNA (>60 μg) was isolated in the laboratory of Yuichi Suwa as previously described (20). Nitrosomonas sp. strain AL212 grew at 11 mM but was suppressed at 36 mM (NH4)2SO4 (20). The draft genome of strain AL212 was generated at the DOE Joint Genome Institute using Illumina (1) and 454 (12) technologies. The Illumina GAii shotgun library produced 13,571,840 reads (488 Mb), which were assembled with VELVET, version l0.7.63 (21). The 454 Titanium standard and paired-end libraries produced 305,716 reads and 18,574 reads, respectively; data were assembled with Newbler, version 2.3. Reads were reassembled after computational shredding using parallel Phrap (version SPS-4.24; High Performance Software, LLC). Consed software (6–8) was used for finishing. Potential base errors and consensus quality were corrected using Illumina data and Polisher software (A. Lapidus, unpublished data). Possible misassemblies were corrected using gapResolution (C. Han, unpublished data), Dupfinisher (9), or sequencing of subcloned bridging PCR fragments. Gaps were closed by PCR or Bubble PCR primer walks (1,095 reactions) using Consed. The final assembly is based on 119 Mb of 454 data (34.6× coverage) and 486 Mb of Illumina data (140.8× coverage). The finished genome (5) consists of a chromosome (3.18 Mb) and two plasmids (92 kb and 64 kb), totaling 3,337,023 bp with a 44.7% GC content, and contains a single rRNA operon and a full complement of tRNA genes.

In silico analysis predicted 2,983 candidate protein-encoding gene models. The taxonomic distribution of top KEGG hits identified 2,172 with proteobacteria, with the highest single-organism hits being those for Nitrosospira multiformis (15). Previously reported or predicted genes encoding enzymes and proteins involved in ammonia and hydroxylamine catabolism and urea utilization were identified (10, 14, 19). Complete amo and hao gene clusters are present in three nearly identical copies on the chromosome. Two distinct gene clusters encoding inventory of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle, including ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, were identified. Genes encoding inventory implicated in nitrogen oxide metabolism include copper nitrite reductase (nirK, singleton), nitric oxide reductase (norCBQD), several cytochromes (three cytL and cytS) and a NO-responsive regulator (nnrS). Genes encoding the nitric oxide reductase heme-copperoxidase (norSY) present in all other genome-sequenced AOB (17) were not found. Further sequence annotation and genome comparisons with other AOB are under way.

Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.

The complete Nitrosomonas sp. strain AL212 genome sequence is available in GenBank under accession numbers NC_015223 (plasmid pNAL21201), NC_015221 (plasmid pNAL21202), and NC_015222 (chromosome).

Acknowledgments

The technical support of Yoko Ohto and Yukie Kakiyama in the production of DNA is gratefully acknowledged.

This collaborative project was supported by NSF Research Coordination Network grant 0541797 from the National Science Foundation. Y. Suwa was supported by internal funds. J. M. Norton was supported by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, project number UTA00371. M.G. Klotz received incentive funds from the University of Louisville. L.Y. Stein was supported by a grant from NSERC. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

REFERENCES

  • 1. Bennett S. 2004. Solexa Ltd. Pharmacogenomics 5:433–438 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2. Bollmann A., Bar-Gilissen M. J., Laanbroek H. J. 2002. Growth at low ammonium concentrations and starvation response as potential factors involved in niche differentiation among ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:4751–4757 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3. Bollmann A., Laanbroek H. J. 2001. Continuous culture enrichments of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria at low ammonium concentrations. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 37:211–221 [Google Scholar]
  • 4. Chain P., et al. 2003. Complete genome sequence of the ammonia-oxidizing bacterium and obligate chemolithoautotroph Nitrosomonas europaea. J. Bacteriol. 185:2759–2773 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5. Chain P. S. G., et al. 2009. Genome project standards in a new era of sequencing. Science 326:236–237 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 6. Ewing B., Green P. 1998. Base-calling of automated sequencer traces using Phred. II. Error probabilities. Genome Res. 8:186–194 [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 7. Ewing B., Hillier L., Wendl M. C., Green P. 1998. Base-calling of automated sequencer traces using Phred. I. Accuracy assessment. Genome Res. 8:175–185 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 8. Gordon D., Abajian C., Green P. 1998. Consed: A graphical tool for sequence finishing. Genome Res. 8:195–202 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 9. Han C. S., Chain P. S. G. 2006. Finishing repeat regions automatically with Dupfinisher, p. 141–146 In Arabnia H. R., Valafar H. (ed.), Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on Bioinformatics & Computational Biology. CSREA Press, Las Vegas, NV [Google Scholar]
  • 10. Koper T. E., El-Sheikh A. F., Norton J. M., Klotz M. G. 2004. Urease-encoding genes in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70:2342–2348 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 11. Laanbroek H. J., Bollmann A. 2011. Nitrification in inland waters, p. 385–403 In Ward B. B., Klotz M. G., Arp D. J. (ed.), Nitrification. ASM Press, Washington, DC [Google Scholar]
  • 12. Margulies M., et al. 2005. Genome sequencing in microfabricated high-density picolitre reactors. Nature 437:376–380 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 13. Norton J. M. 2011. Diversity and environmental distribution of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, p. 39–55 In Ward B. B., Klotz M. G., Arp D. J. (ed.), Nitrification. ASM Press, Washington, DC [Google Scholar]
  • 14. Norton J. M., Alzerreca J. J., Suwa Y., Klotz M. G. 2002. Diversity of ammonia monooxygenase operon in autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Arch. Microbiol. 177:139–149 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 15. Norton J. M., et al. 2008. Complete genome sequence of Nitrosospira multiformis, an ammonia-oxidizing bacterium from the soil environment. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74:3559–3572 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 16. Okabe S., Aoi Y., Satoh H., Suwa Y. 2011. Nitrification in wastewater treatment, p. 405–433 In Ward B. B., Klotz M. G., Arp D. J. (ed.), Nitrification. ASM Press, Washington, DC [Google Scholar]
  • 17. Regan J. M., Harrington G. W., Baribeau H., De Leon R., Noguera D. R. 2003. Diversity of nitrifying bacteria in full-scale chloraminated distribution systems. Water Res. 37:197–205 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 18. Stein L. Y., et al. 2007. Whole-genome analysis of the ammonia-oxidizing bacterium, Nitrosomonas eutropha C91: implications for niche adaptation. Environ. Microbiol. 9:2993–3007 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 19. Suwa Y., Imamura Y., Suzuki T., Tashiro T., Urushigawa Y. 1994. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria with different sensitivities to (NH4)2SO4 in activated sludges. Water Res. 28:1523–1532 [Google Scholar]
  • 20. Suwa Y., Sumino T., Noto K. 1997. Phylogenetic relationships of activated sludge isolates of ammonia oxidizers with different sensitivities to ammonium sulfate. J. Appl. Microbiol. 43:373–379 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 21. Zerbino D. R., Birney E. 2008. Velvet: Algorithms for de novo short read assembly using de Bruijn graphs. Genome Res. 18:821–829 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES