- Nou, Nancy O;
- Covington, Jonathan K;
- Lai, Dengxun;
- Mayali, Xavier;
- Seymour, Cale O;
- Johnston, Juliet;
- Jiao, Jian-Yu;
- Buessecker, Steffen;
- Mosier, Damon;
- Muok, Alise R;
- Torosian, Nicole;
- Cook, Allison M;
- Briegel, Ariane;
- Woyke, Tanja;
- Eloe-Fadrosh, Emiley;
- Shapiro, Nicole;
- Bryan, Scott G;
- Sleezer, Savannah;
- Dimapilis, Joshua;
- Gonzalez, Cristina;
- Gonzalez, Lizett;
- Noriega, Marlene;
- Hess, Matthias;
- Carlson, Ross P;
- Liu, Lan;
- Li, Meng-Meng;
- Lian, Zheng-Han;
- Zhu, Siqi;
- Liu, Fan;
- Sun, Xian;
- Gao, Beile;
- Mewalal, Ritesh;
- Harmon-Smith, Miranda;
- Blaby, Ian K;
- Cheng, Jan-Fang;
- Weber, Peter K;
- Grigorean, Gabriela;
- Li, Wen-Jun;
- Dekas, Anne E;
- Pett-Ridge, Jennifer;
- Dodsworth, Jeremy A;
- Palmer, Marike;
- Hedlund, Brian P
Few aerobic hyperthermophilic microorganisms degrade polysaccharides. Here, we describe the genome-enabled enrichment and optical tweezer-based isolation of an aerobic polysaccharide-degrading hyperthermophile, Fervidibacter sacchari, previously ascribed to candidate phylum Fervidibacteria. F. sacchari uses polysaccharides and monosaccharides for growth at 65-87.5 °C and expresses 191 carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) according to RNA-Seq and proteomics, including 31 with unusual glycoside hydrolase domains (GH109, GH177, GH179). Fluorescence in-situ hybridization and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry confirmed rapid assimilation of 13C-starch in spring sediments. Purified GHs were optimally active at 80-100 °C on ten different polysaccharides. Finally, we propose reassigning Fervidibacteria as a class within phylum Armatimonadota, along with 18 other species, and show that a high number and diversity of CAZymes is a hallmark of the phylum, in both aerobic and anaerobic lineages. Our study establishes Fervidibacteria as hyperthermophilic polysaccharide degraders in terrestrial geothermal springs and suggests a broad role for Armatimonadota in polysaccharide catabolism.