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Seasonal and spatial distribution of ammonia-oxidizing microorganism communities in surface sediments from the East China Sea

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Abstract

Ammonia oxidation plays a significant role in the nitrogen cycle in marine sediments. Seasonal and spatial distribution of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and betaproteobacteria (β-AOB) in surface sediments from the East China Sea (ECS) were investigated using ammonia monooxygenase α subunit (amoA) gene. In order to characterize the community of AOA and β-AOB, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was carried out in this study, along with environmental parameters. The abundance of β-AOB amoA gene (2.17×106–4.54×107 copy numbers per gram wet weight sediment) was always greater than that of AOA amoA gene (2.18×105–9.89×106 copy numbers per gram wet weight sediment) in all sampling stations. The qPCR results were correlated with environmental parameters. AOA amoA gene copy numbers in April were positively related to temperature and nitrite concentration (ρ<0.05). β-AOB amoA gene copy numbers in August correlated negatively with salinity (ρ<0.01), and correlated positively with ammonium concentration (ρ<0.05). With the increase of salinity, the amoA gene copy ratio of AOB to AOA had a tendency to decrease, which suggested β-AOB dominated in the area of high level ammonium and AOA preferred high salinity area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Life Science, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Hui He

  2. Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Yu Zhen & Tiezhu Mi

  3. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Yu Zhen, Tiezhu Mi & Xinglan Lu

  4. Key Laboratory of Marine Chemical Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Zhigang Yu

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  1. Hui He
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  2. Yu Zhen
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  3. Tiezhu Mi
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  4. Xinglan Lu
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  5. Zhigang Yu
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Correspondence to Yu Zhen.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 40920164004; the National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of China under contract No. 2011CB403602; the Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41221004.

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He, H., Zhen, Y., Mi, T. et al. Seasonal and spatial distribution of ammonia-oxidizing microorganism communities in surface sediments from the East China Sea. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 34, 83–92 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-015-0710-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-015-0710-z

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