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Watershed Function – Scientific Focus Area

Complete 4.55-megabase-pair genome of “Candidatus Fluviicola riflensis,” curated from short-read metagenomic sequences

The aquifer adjacent to Colorado River, Rifle, CO, is now arguably the most extensively microbially characterized ecosystem in the world
Scientific Achievement

We report the 4.55-Mbp genome of “Candidatus Fluviicola riflensis”, a facultative anaerobe that likely can grow over a range of O2 levels, favoring its proliferation in an aquifer adjacent to the CO River.

Significance and Impact

This brief genome announcement was unprecedented because it established that a large genome from a complex, heterogenous population could be recovered from a metagenome, enabling metabolic predictions

Research Details
  • Groundwater was collected during an episode in which dissolved O2 concentrations were seasonally elevated for a short duration
  • Short read sequence datasets were generated
  • The genome of an environmentally important but otherwise enigmatic microbial community member was reconstructed
Citation

Banfield, J.F., Anantharaman, K., Williams, K.H., and Thomas, B.C. (2017), Complete 4.55-megabase-pair genome of “Candidatus Fluviicola riflensis,” curated from short-read metagenomic sequences, Genome Announcements, 5(47), e01299-17, doi: 10.1128/genomeA.01299-17