Ribosomal proteins can hold a more accurate record of bacterial thermal adaptation compared to rRNA

Ribosomal genes are widely used as ‘molecular clocks’ to infer evolutionary relationships between species. However, their utility as ‘molecular thermometers’ for estimating optimal growth temperature of microorganisms remains uncertain. Previously, some estimations were made using the nucleotide composition of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), but the universal application of this approach was hindered by numerous outliers. In this study, we aimed to address this problem by identifying additional indicators of thermal adaptation within the sequences of ribosomal proteins. By comparing sequences from 2021 bacteria with known optimal growth temperature, we identified novel indicators among the metal-binding residues of ribosomal proteins. We found that these residues serve as conserved adaptive features for bacteria thriving above 40°C, but not at lower temperatures. Furthermore, the presence of these metal-binding residues exhibited a stronger correlation with the optimal growth temperature of bacteria compared to the commonly used correlation with the 16S rRNA GC content. And an even more accurate correlation was observed between the optimal growth temperature and the YVIWREL amino acid content within ribosomal proteins. Overall, our work suggests that ribosomal proteins contain a more accurate record of bacterial thermal adaptation compared to rRNA. This finding may simplify the analysis of unculturable and extinct species.