Functional type 2 photosynthetic reaction centers found in the rare bacterial phylum Gemmatimonadetes

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1400295111
• Publication Date: 2014-05-13T08:53:58Z
• Authors: Yonghui Zeng; Fuying Feng; Hana Medová; Jason Dean; Michal Koblížek
• Keywords: China; Aerobic photoheterotroph; Molecular Sequence Data; Bacteria/cytology; Bacterial pigments; Fluorescence; 03 medical and health sciences; Genetic; Species Specificity; Models; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Cluster Analysis; Fluorometry; Anoxygenic photosynthesis; Phylogeny; Ribosomal; Microscopy; Likelihood Functions; 0303 health sciences; Bacteria; Base Sequence; Models, Genetic; Spectrum Analysis; Photosystem II Protein Complex/genetics; Photosystem II Protein Complex; Fluorescence imaging system; Horizontal gene transfer; DNA; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Lakes; Microscopy, Fluorescence; RNA; Lakes/microbiology; Sequence Analysis; 16S/genetics

Significance Photosynthesis is one of the most fundamental biological processes on Earth. To date, species capable of performing (bacterio)chlorophyll-based phototrophy have been reported in six bacterial phyla. Here we report a phototrophic bacterium belonging to the rare and understudied phylum Gemmatimonadetes. This strain, isolated from a freshwater lake in the Gobi Desert, contains fully functional photosynthetic reaction centers. Its photosynthesis genes appear to originate from an ancient horizontal gene transfer from a purple phototrophic bacterium. Our findings not only demonstrate that Gemmatimonadetes represents a new phototrophic bacterial phylum, but also present, to our knowledge, the first evidence that genes for (bacterio)chlorophyll-based phototrophy can be transferred between distant bacterial phyla.