Dominant coral bacterium Endozoicomonas acroporae metabolizes Dimethylsulfoniopropionate

Dominant coral associated Endozoicomonas bacteria species are hypothesized to play a role in the global sulfur cycle by metabolizing Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) into Dimethylsulfide (DMS); a climate active-gas, which releases sulfur into the atmosphere; however, no sequenced genome to date harbors genes for this process. We assembled high-quality (>95 % complete) genomes of two new strains (Acr-1 and Acr-5) of a recently added species Endozoicomonas acroporae isolated from the coral Acropora muricata . We identified the first DMSP lyase - a dddD gene homolog found in all E.acroporae , and functionally characterized bacteria being capable of metabolizing DMSP into DMS via the DddD cleavage pathway using RT-qPCR and Gas Chromatography (GC).This study confirms the role of Endozoicomonas in the global sulfur cycle.