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Abundance, contribution, and possible driver of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in various types of aquatic ecosystems

  • Sediments, Sec 4 • Sediment-Ecology Interactions • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

In some habitats, ammonia oxidation highly depends on the activity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), which are therefore important for studying biogeochemical nitrogen cycling. However, the behavior and distribution of AOA in aquatic ecosystems are not well characterized, especially on a global scale.

Materials and methods

We sampled 66 sites across all five continents to analyze the global abundance of AOA. Ammonium oxidation rates were measured using the dicyandiamide (DCD) and octyne inhibition method to separately evaluate the contributions of AOA to ammonium oxidation. High-throughput pyrosequencing and phylogenetic analysis were applied to study AOA community compositions, combined with DNA-stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP).

Results and discussion

The archaeal amoA gene was widespread and abundant across all aquatic ecosystem types. The average abundance was 3.59 × 108 copies g−1, with the highest values in lake samples and the lowest in river samples. The AOA abundance was influenced by pH. Archaeal ammonia oxidation rates were 0.81 ± 0.45 mg (NO3−-N) kg−1 day−1, corresponding to 63.75% of the total ammonia oxidation rate. Pyrosequencing analysis showed that the AOA community was dominated by the Group I.1b lineage (65.8%). Candidatus Nitrosocosmicus franklandus showed the highest positive correlation with archaeal ammonium oxidation rates and had the highest carbon use efficiency.

Conclusions

Abundance, activity, and community composition of AOA were highly heterogeneous. pH negatively impacted the abundance of the archaeal amoA functional gene. AOA were the main ammonia oxidators in aquatic ecosystems. Ca. N. franklandus was found to dominate archaeal ammonium oxidation.

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Acknowledgements

This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41671471, 41322012 and 91851204), Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB15020303), National Key R&D Program (2016YFA0602303), Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program (2017BT01Z176), special fund from the State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences) (18Z02ESPCR), Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (16Z03KLDWST), and CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams. The author Guibing Zhu gratefully acknowledges the support of a Humboldt Research Fellowship (1152633) and Program of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association (CAS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Weidong Wang, Weiyue Liu, Shanyun Wang, Mengzi Wang & Guibing Zhu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Weiyue Liu & Guibing Zhu

  3. Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Xi-En Long

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  1. Weidong Wang
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  2. Weiyue Liu
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Correspondence to Guibing Zhu.

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Wang, W., Liu, W., Wang, S. et al. Abundance, contribution, and possible driver of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in various types of aquatic ecosystems. J Soils Sediments 19, 2114–2125 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2188-8

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