Using SMDB database to reveal the sulfate reduction metabolic characteristics of microorganisms in the subtropical mangrove ecosystem

Abstract Motivation Sulfate reduction is an important process in the sulfur cycle. However, the relationship between this process and the genotype of microorganisms involved in subtropical mangrove ecosystems is poorly understood. A professional and efficient gene integration database of sulfur metabolism has not been established yet. Results In this study, a sulfur metabolism gene integrative database (SMDB) had been constructed successfully. The database achieved high coverage, fast retrieval, and low false positives. Then the sulfate reduction by microorganisms in subtropical mangroves ecosystem had been evaluated quickly and accurately with SMDB database. Relative enrichment of sulfate adenylyltransferase indicated that environmental factors select for a partial dissimilatory sulfate reduction process. Furthermore, the sulfate reduction community compensates by producing certain sulfate-reduction genes in response to high-sulfur environments. Taxonomic assignment of dissimilatory sulfate-reduction genes revealed that Crenarchaeota and Halobacterota are completely responsible for this process. Sulfite reductase can help the community cope with the toxic sulfite produced by these Archaea phyla. Collectively, these findings demonstrated that Halobacterota and Crenarchaeota play essential roles in dissimilatory sulfate reduction. Availability and implementation SMDB is freely available under http://smdb.gxu.edu.cn/ and https://github.com/taylor19891213/sulfur-metabolism-gene-database. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.