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Blom P, Smith GJ, van Kessel MAHJ, Koch H, Lücker S. Comprehensive evaluation of primer pairs targeting the ammonia monooxygenase subunit A gene of complete ammonia-oxidizing Nitrospira. Microbiol Spectr 2024:e0051624. [PMID: 39166864 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00516-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Since the discovery of complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox) within the genus Nitrospira, their distribution and abundance across habitats have been intensively studied to better understand their ecological significance. Many primers targeting their ammonia monooxygenase subunit A gene (amoA) have been designed to detect and quantify comammox bacteria and to describe their community structure. We identified 38 published primers, but only few had high coverage and specificity for all known comammox Nitrospira or one of the two described subclades. For each target group, we comprehensively evaluated selected primer pairs using in silico analyses, endpoint PCRs, qPCRs, and amplicon sequencing on samples from various environments. Endpoint PCRs and qPCRs showed that the most commonly used primer pairs (comaA-244F/659R, comaB-244F/659R, and Ntsp-amoA162F/359R) produced several bands, which likely inflated quantifications via qPCR. In contrast, the recently published primer combinations CA377F/C576R, CB377F/C576R, and CA-CB377F/C576R resulted mostly in a single band. Furthermore, amplicon sequencing demonstrated that these primer combinations also captured the highest richness of comammox Nitrospira. Taken together, our results indicate that few existing comammox amoA primer combinations have both high specificity and coverage and that the choice of these high-specificity and high-coverage primer pairs substantially impacts the accurate detection, quantification, and community description of comammox bacteria. We, therefore, recommend using the CA377F/C576R, CB377F/C576R, and CA-CB377F/C576R primer pairs.IMPORTANCEBacteria that can fully convert ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, the complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), were recently discovered and are found in many natural and engineered environments. PCR-based tools to study their abundance and diversity were rapidly developed, resulting in a plethora of primers available, many of which are widely used. The presence of comammox bacteria in an environment can, however, only be correctly determined if the used primers detect all members of this group while not detecting any other guilds. This study assesses the coverage and specificity of existing primers targeting comammox bacteria using both computational and standard molecular techniques, revealing large differences in their performance. The uniform usage of well-performing primers across studies could aid in generating comparable and generalizable data to better understand the importance of comammox bacteria in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter Blom
- Department of Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Garrett J Smith
- Department of Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Maartje A H J van Kessel
- Department of Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Hanna Koch
- Department of Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Bioresources Unit, Center for Health & Bioresources, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Tulln an der Donau, Austria
| | - Sebastian Lücker
- Department of Microbiology, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Guo Z, Ma XS, Ni SQ. Journey of the swift nitrogen transformation: Unveiling comammox from discovery to deep understanding. CHEMOSPHERE 2024; 358:142093. [PMID: 38679176 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024]
Abstract
COMplete AMMonia OXidizer (comammox) refers to microorganisms that have the function of oxidizing NH4+ to NO3- alone. The discovery of comammox overturned the two-step theory of nitrification in the past century and triggered many important scientific questions about the nitrogen cycle in nature. This comprehensive review delves into the origin and discovery of comammox, providing a detailed account of its detection primers, clades metabolic variations, and environmental factors. An in-depth analysis of the ecological niche differentiation among ammonia oxidizers was also discussed. The intricate role of comammox in anammox systems and the relationship between comammox and nitrogen compound emissions are also discussed. Finally, the relationship between comammox and anammox is displayed, and the future research direction of comammox is prospected. This review reveals the metabolic characteristics and distribution patterns of comammox in ecosystems, providing new perspectives for understanding nitrogen cycling and microbial ecology. Additionally, it offers insights into the potential application value and prospects of comammox.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Guo
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Shandong, 266237, China
| | - Xue Song Ma
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Shandong, 266237, China
| | - Shou-Qing Ni
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Shandong, 266237, China.
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Zhao W, Bi X, Bai M, Wang Y. Research advances of ammonia oxidation microorganisms in wastewater: metabolic characteristics, microbial community, influencing factors and process applications. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 2023; 46:621-633. [PMID: 36988685 DOI: 10.1007/s00449-023-02866-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
Ammonia oxidation carried out by ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs) is a central step in the global nitrogen cycle. Aerobic AOMs comprise conventional ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), novel ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), which could exist in complex and extreme conditions, and complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), which directly oxidize ammonia to nitrate within a single cell. Anaerobic AOMs mainly comprise anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB), which can transform NH4+-N and NO2--N into N2 under anaerobic conditions. In this review, the unique metabolic characteristics, microbial community of AOMs and the influencing factors are discussed. Process applications of nitrification/denitrification, nitritation/denitrification, nitritation/anammox and partial denitrification/anammox in wastewater treatment systems are emphasized. The future development of nitrogen removal processes using AOMs is expected, enrichment of comammox facilitates the complete nitrification performance, inhibiting the activity of comammox and NOB could achieve stable nitritation, and additionally, AnAOB conducting the anammox process in municipal wastewater is a promising development direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weihua Zhao
- State and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recycling, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266033, People's Republic of China.
- School of Marine Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai, 264209, People's Republic of China.
- Qingdao University of Technology, Huangdao District, Qingdao, 266525, People's Republic of China.
| | - Xuejun Bi
- State and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recycling, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266033, People's Republic of China
| | - Meng Bai
- State and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recycling, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266033, People's Republic of China
| | - Yanyan Wang
- State and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recycling, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266033, People's Republic of China
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4
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He S, Zhao Z, Tian Z, Xu C, Liu Y, He D, Zhang Y, Zheng M. Comammox bacteria predominate among ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in municipal but not in refinery wastewater treatment plants. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 316:115271. [PMID: 35594823 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Revised: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 05/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Comammox bacteria have proved to be one dominant and significant ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs) in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), however, it still remains unknown about their abundance and diversity in industrial WWTPs. In this study, activated sludge samples from 8 municipal WWTPs and 6 industrial WWTPs treating refinery wastewater were taken and analyzed using qPCR and amoA gene sequencing. Intriguingly, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) results suggested that comammox bacteria had a higher numerical abundance compared with ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in municipal WWTPs but did not in refinery WWTPs. Moreover, comammox amoA sequences obtained from high-throughput sequencing were retrieved from all the 8 municipal samples but only 1 industrial sample. Further phylogenetic analysis revealed that N. nitrosa cluster accounted for as high as 79.56% of the total comammox affiliated sequences, which was the most numerically abundant comammox species in municipal WWTPs. This study provided new insights into the abundance and diversity of comammox bacteria in the biological nitrification process in municipal and refinery wastewater treatment systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shishi He
- The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Main Building G619, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Zhirong Zhao
- The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Main Building G619, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Zhichao Tian
- The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Main Building G619, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Chi Xu
- The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Main Building G619, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Yuan Liu
- The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Main Building G619, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Da He
- Key Laboratory of Ecological Impacts of Hydraulic Projects and Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystem of Ministry of Water Resources, Institute of Hydroecology, Ministry of Water Resources & Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Yinghui Zhang
- Guangxi Huantou Water Group Co. LTD, Nanning, 530015, China
| | - Maosheng Zheng
- The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Main Building G619, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China.
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Deterministic Factors Determine the Comammox Community Composition in the Pearl River Estuary Ecosystem. Microbiol Spectr 2022; 10:e0101622. [PMID: 35913204 PMCID: PMC9431512 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01016-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox) have been widely detected in riverine and estuarine ecosystems. However, knowledge about the process of comammox community assembly from freshwater to marine environments is still limited. Here, based on deep sequencing, we investigated the community composition of comammox along a salinity gradient in the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), South China. Our results showed that comammox microorganisms in the PRE sediments were extremely diverse and displayed distinct distributional patterns between upstream and downstream habitats. Quantitative PCR demonstrated that comammox was the dominant ammonia-oxidizing microorganism (AOM) in the PRE upstream sediments, and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) dominated the PRE downstream sediments, while ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were not dominant in any section of the PRE. Neutral modeling revealed that stochastic processes explained a limited part of the variation in the comammox community. The majority of beta nearest-taxon index values were higher than 2, indicating that comammox community assembly in the PRE sediments was better explained through a deterministic process than through a stochastic process. Salinity and total nitrogen were the most important contributing factors that shaped the comammox community. This study expanded the current knowledge of the diversity and niche preference of comammox in the estuarine ecosystem, and further enhances our understanding of the assembly of comammox community from freshwater to marine environments. IMPORTANCE Microbial communities are shaped by stochastic (emigration, immigration, birth, death, and genetic drift of species) and deterministic (e.g., environmental factors) processes. However, it remains unknown as to which type of process is more important in influencing the comammox community assembly from freshwater to marine environments. In this study, we compared the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic processes in shaping the assembly of the comammox community, which demonstrated that the deterministic process was more important in determining the community assembly patterns in the PRE ecosystem.
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Zhang SN, Wang JG, Wang DQ, Jiang QY, Quan ZX. Abundance and Niche Differentiation of Comammox in the Sludges of Wastewater Treatment Plants That Use the Anaerobic-Anoxic-Aerobic Process. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12070954. [PMID: 35888046 PMCID: PMC9322089 DOI: 10.3390/life12070954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Revised: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), which directly oxidize ammonia to nitrate, were recently identified and found to be ubiquitous in artificial systems. Research on the abundance and niche differentiation of comammox in the sludges of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) would be useful for improving the nitrogen removal efficiency of WWTPs. Here, we investigated the relative abundance and diversity of comammox in fifteen sludges of five WWTPs that use the anaerobic−anoxic−aerobic process in Jinan, China, via quantitative polymerase chain reaction and high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and ammonia monooxygenase gene. In the activated sludges in the WWTPs, comammox clade A.1 was widely distributed and mostly comprised Candidatus Nitrospira nitrosa-like comammox (>98% of all comammox). The proportion of this clade was negatively correlated (p < 0.01) with the dissolved oxygen (DO) level (1.7−8 mg/L), and slight pH changes (7.20−7.70) affected the structure of the comammox populations. Nitrospira lineage I frequently coexisted with Nitrosomonas, which generally had a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05) with the DO level. Our study provided an insight into the structure of comammox and other nitrifier populations in WWTPs that use the anaerobic−anoxic−aerobic process, broadening the knowledge about the effects of DO on comammox and other nitrifiers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Qiu-Yue Jiang
- Correspondence: (Q.-Y.J.); (Z.-X.Q.); Tel.: +86-21-3124-0665 (Z.-X.Q.)
| | - Zhe-Xue Quan
- Correspondence: (Q.-Y.J.); (Z.-X.Q.); Tel.: +86-21-3124-0665 (Z.-X.Q.)
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7
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Sakoula D, Smith GJ, Frank J, Mesman RJ, Kop LFM, Blom P, Jetten MSM, van Kessel MAHJ, Lücker S. Universal activity-based labeling method for ammonia- and alkane-oxidizing bacteria. THE ISME JOURNAL 2022; 16:958-971. [PMID: 34743174 PMCID: PMC8941013 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-021-01144-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Revised: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The advance of metagenomics in combination with intricate cultivation approaches has facilitated the discovery of novel ammonia-, methane-, and other short-chain alkane-oxidizing microorganisms, indicating that our understanding of the microbial biodiversity within the biogeochemical nitrogen and carbon cycles still is incomplete. The in situ detection and phylogenetic identification of novel ammonia- and alkane-oxidizing bacteria remain challenging due to their naturally low abundances and difficulties in obtaining new isolates from complex samples. Here, we describe an activity-based protein profiling protocol allowing cultivation-independent unveiling of ammonia- and alkane-oxidizing bacteria. In this protocol, 1,7-octadiyne is used as a bifunctional enzyme probe that, in combination with a highly specific alkyne-azide cycloaddition reaction, enables the fluorescent or biotin labeling of cells harboring active ammonia and alkane monooxygenases. Biotinylation of these enzymes in combination with immunogold labeling revealed the subcellular localization of the tagged proteins, which corroborated expected enzyme targets in model strains. In addition, fluorescent labeling of cells harboring active ammonia or alkane monooxygenases provided a direct link of these functional lifestyles to phylogenetic identification when combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization. Furthermore, we show that this activity-based labeling protocol can be successfully coupled with fluorescence-activated cell sorting for the enrichment of nitrifiers and alkane-oxidizing bacteria from complex environmental samples, enabling the recovery of high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes. In conclusion, this study demonstrates a novel, functional tagging technique for the reliable detection, identification, and enrichment of ammonia- and alkane-oxidizing bacteria present in complex microbial communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dimitra Sakoula
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Garrett J Smith
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Jeroen Frank
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Soehngen Institute of Anaerobic Microbiology, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Rob J Mesman
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Linnea F M Kop
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Pieter Blom
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Mike S M Jetten
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Soehngen Institute of Anaerobic Microbiology, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Maartje A H J van Kessel
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Sebastian Lücker
- Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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Chen W, Radford D, Hambleton S. Towards Improved Detection and Identification of Rust Fungal Pathogens in Environmental Samples Using a Metabarcoding Approach. PHYTOPATHOLOGY 2022; 112:535-548. [PMID: 34384241 DOI: 10.1094/phyto-01-21-0020-r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The dispersion of fungal inocula such as the airborne spores of rust fungi (Pucciniales) can be monitored through metabarcoding of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) of the rRNA gene in environmental DNAs. This method is largely dependent on a high-quality reference database (refDB) and primers with proper taxonomic coverage and specificity. For this study, a curated ITS2 reference database (named CR-ITS2-refDB) comprising representatives of the major cereal rust fungi and phylogenetically related species was compiled. Interspecific and intraspecific variation analyses suggested that the ITS2 region had reasonable discriminating power for the majority of the Puccinia species or species complexes in the database. In silico evaluation of nine forward and seven reverse ITS2 primers, including three newly designed, revealed marked variation in DNA amplification efficiency for the rusts. We validated the theoretical assessment of rust-enhanced (Rust2inv/ITS4var_H) and universal fungal (ITS9F/ITS4) ITS2 primer pairs by profiling the airborne rust fungal communities from environmental samples via a metabarcoding approach. Species- or subspecies-level identification of the rusts was improved by use of CR-ITS2-refDB and the Automated Oligonucleotide Design Pipeline (AODP), which identified all mutations distinguishing highly conserved DNA markers between close relatives. A generic bioinformatics pipeline was developed, including all steps used in this study from in silico evaluation of primers to accurate identification of short metabarcodes at the level of interest for defining phytopathogens. The results highlight the importance of primer selection, refDBs that are resolved to reflect phylogenetic relationships, and the use of AODP for improving the reliability of metabarcoding in phytopathogen biosurveillance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen Chen
- Biodiversity and Bioresources, Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada
| | - Devon Radford
- Biodiversity and Bioresources, Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada
| | - Sarah Hambleton
- Biodiversity and Bioresources, Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada
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Zhao M, Tang X, Sun D, Hou L, Liu M, Zhao Q, Klümper U, Quan Z, Gu JD, Han P. Salinity gradients shape the nitrifier community composition in Nanliu River Estuary sediments and the ecophysiology of comammox Nitrospira inopinata. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 795:148768. [PMID: 34247082 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The recent discovery of complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), which convert ammonia to nitrate in a single organism, revolutionized the conventional understanding that two types of nitrifying microorganisms have to be involved in the nitrification process for more than 100 years. However, how different types of nitrifiers in response to salinity change remains largely unclear. This study not only investigated nitrifier community (including ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), comammox and nitrite-oxidizing Nitrospira) in the Nanliu estuary to find the ecological relationship between salinity and functional communities and also studied the physiology of a typical comammox Nitrospira inopinata in response to a salinity gradient. Based on sequences retrieved with four sets of functional gene primes, comammox Nitrospira was in general, mainly composed of clade A, with a clear separation of clade A1 subgroup in all samples and clade A2 subgroup in low salinity ones. As expected, group I.1b and group I.1a AOA dominated the AOA community in low- and high-salinity samples, respectively. Nitrosomonas-AOB were detected in all samples while Nitrosospira-AOB were mainly found in relatively high-salinity samples. Regarding general Nitrospira, lineages II and IV were the major groups in most of the samples, while lineage I Nitrospira was only detected in low-salinity samples. Furthermore, the comammox pure culture of N. inopinata showed an optimal salinity at 0.5‰ and ceased to grow at 12.8‰ for ammonia oxidation, but remained active for nitrite oxidation. These results show new evidence regarding niche specificity of different nitrifying microorganisms modulated mainly by salinity, and also a clear response by comammox N. inopinata to a wide range of simulated salinity levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengyue Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Xiufeng Tang
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Dongyao Sun
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Lijun Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Min Liu
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Qiang Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Uli Klümper
- Institute for Hydrobiology, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany
| | - Zhexue Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
| | - Ji-Dong Gu
- Environmental Engineering, Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, 241 Daxue Road, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China
| | - Ping Han
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China; Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China.
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10
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Xia F, Jiang QY, Zhu T, Zou B, Liu H, Quan ZX. Ammonium promoting methane oxidation by stimulating the Type Ia methane-oxidizing bacteria in tidal flat sediments of the Yangtze River estuary. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 793:148470. [PMID: 34166901 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2021] [Revised: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Estuary and coastal environments have essential ecosystem functions in greenhouse gas sinks and removal of nitrogen pollution. Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) communities play critical functions in the estuary's tidal flat sediments. Therefore, the effects of ammonium on MOB communities and methane on AOB communities need to be further explained. In this study, microcosm incubations with different contents of ammonium or methane were conducted for a relatively short (24 h) or long (28 days) period with tidal flat sediments from the Yangtze River estuary. Subsequently, the tagged highly degenerate primer PCR and DNA-based stable isotope probing method were employed to demonstrate the effects on MOB and AOB populations. The results indicated that the methane consumption was enhanced with ammonium supplements within 24 h of incubation. Supplement of 2 μmol/g d.w.s (μmol per gram dry weight soil) NH4+ increased the amount of MOB and its proportion to the total bacteria (p < 0.05) for 28 days incubation. The ammonium supplement increased the proportion of Methylomonas and Methylobacter based on the 16S rRNA gene. According to the functional gene analysis, the MOB primarily engaged in methane oxidation include Methylomonas, Methylobacter, Methylomicrobium, and Methylosarcina, which were associated with Type Ia MOB. It suggested that ammonium supplement may promote methane oxidation by stimulating the Type Ia MOB in tidal flat sediments of the Yangtze River estuary. The current research helps understand the effect of ammonium on methane consumption in the estuary and coastal environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Xia
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710021, China; Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qiu-Yue Jiang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ting Zhu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Bin Zou
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Huan Liu
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an 710021, China
| | - Zhe-Xue Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
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Martin G, Rissanen AJ, Garcia SL, Mehrshad M, Buck M, Peura S. Candidatus Methylumidiphilus Drives Peaks in Methanotrophic Relative Abundance in Stratified Lakes and Ponds Across Northern Landscapes. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:669937. [PMID: 34456882 PMCID: PMC8397446 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.669937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Boreal lakes and ponds produce two-thirds of the total natural methane emissions above the latitude of 50° North. These lake emissions are regulated by methanotrophs which can oxidize up to 99% of the methane produced in the sediments and the water column. Despite their importance, the diversity and distribution of the methanotrophs in lakes are still poorly understood. Here, we used shotgun metagenomic data to explore the diversity and distribution of methanotrophs in 40 oxygen-stratified water bodies in boreal and subarctic areas in Europe and North America. In our data, gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs (order Methylococcales) generally dominated the methanotrophic communities throughout the water columns. A recently discovered lineage of Methylococcales, Candidatus Methylumidiphilus, was present in all the studied water bodies and dominated the methanotrophic community in lakes with a high relative abundance of methanotrophs. Alphaproteobacterial methanotrophs were the second most abundant group of methanotrophs. In the top layer of the lakes, characterized by low CH4 concentration, their abundance could surpass that of the gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs. These results support the theory that the alphaproteobacterial methanotrophs have a high affinity for CH4 and can be considered stress-tolerant strategists. In contrast, the gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs are competitive strategists. In addition, relative abundances of anaerobic methanotrophs, Candidatus Methanoperedenaceae and Candidatus Methylomirabilis, were strongly correlated, suggesting possible co-metabolism. Our data also suggest that these anaerobic methanotrophs could be active even in the oxic layers. In non-metric multidimensional scaling, alpha- and gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs formed separate clusters based on their abundances in the samples, except for the gammaproteobacterial Candidatus Methylumidiphilus, which was separated from these two clusters. This may reflect similarities in the niche and environmental requirements of the different genera within alpha- and gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs. Our study confirms the importance of O2 and CH4 in shaping the methanotrophic communities and suggests that one variable cannot explain the diversity and distribution of the methanotrophs across lakes. Instead, we suggest that the diversity and distribution of freshwater methanotrophs are regulated by lake-specific factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaëtan Martin
- Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Science for Life Laboratory, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Antti J. Rissanen
- Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Sarahi L. Garcia
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Maliheh Mehrshad
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Moritz Buck
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sari Peura
- Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Science for Life Laboratory, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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12
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Horizontal Gene Transfer of Genes Encoding Copper-Containing Membrane-Bound Monooxygenase (CuMMO) and Soluble Di-iron Monooxygenase (SDIMO) in Ethane- and Propane-Oxidizing Rhodococcus Bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 2021; 87:e0022721. [PMID: 33962978 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00227-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The families of copper-containing membrane-bound monooxygenases (CuMMOs) and soluble di-iron monooxygenases (SDIMOs) are involved not only in methane oxidation but also in short-chain alkane oxidation. Here, we describe Rhodococcus sp. strain ZPP, a bacterium able to grow with ethane or propane as the sole carbon and energy source, and report on the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of actinobacterial hydrocarbon monooxygenases (HMOs) of the CuMMO family and the sMMO (soluble methane monooxygenase)-like SDIMO in the genus Rhodococcus. The key function of HMO in strain ZPP for propane oxidation was verified by allylthiourea inhibition. The HMO genes (designated hmoCAB) and those encoding sMMO-like SDIMO (designated smoXYB1C1Z) are located on a linear megaplasmid (pRZP1) of strain ZPP. Comparative genomic analysis of similar plasmids indicated the mobility of these plasmids within the genus Rhodococcus. The plasmid pRZP1 in strain ZPP could be conjugatively transferred to a recipient Rhodococcus erythropolis strain in a mating experiment and showed similar ethane- and propane-consuming activities. Finally, our findings demonstrate that the horizontal transfer of plasmid-based CuMMO and SDIMO genes confers the ability to use ethane and propane on the recipient. IMPORTANCE CuMMOs and SDIMOs initiate the aerobic oxidation of alkanes in bacteria. Here, the supposition that horizontally transferred plasmid-based CuMMO and SDIMO genes confer on the recipient similar abilities to use ethane and propane was proposed and confirmed in Rhodococcus. This study is a living example of HGT of CuMMOs and SDIMOs and outlines the plasmid-borne properties responsible for gaseous alkane degradation. Our results indicate that plasmids can support the rapid evolution of enzyme-mediated biogeochemical processes.
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13
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Wang DQ, Zhou CH, Nie M, Gu JD, Quan ZX. Abundance and niche specificity of different types of complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox) in salt marshes covered by different plants. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 768:144993. [PMID: 33736320 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.144993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2020] [Revised: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The recently discovered complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), which are ubiquitous in various natural and artificial ecosystems, have led to a paradigm shift in our understanding of aerobic nitrification. The coastal salt marsh covered by various plant species is an important ecosystem to link nitrogen cycles of terrestrial and marine environments; however, the distribution and structure of comammox in such ecosystems have not been clearly investigated. Here, we applied quantitative PCR and partial nested-PCR to investigate the abundance and community composition of comammox in salt marsh sediment samples covered by three plant types along the southern coastline of China. Our results showed a predominance of comammox clade A in majority of the samples, suggesting their ubiquity and the important role they play in nitrification in salt marsh ecosystems. However, variations by the sites were found when comparing the abundance of subclades of comammox clade A. Redundancy analysis demonstrated a coexistence pattern by comammox clade A.1 with ammonia-oxidizing archaea and comammox clade A.2 with canonical ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, indicating their differences in potential niche preference. However, the abundance of comammox clade B was lower than that of comammox clade A and other ammonia oxidizers in most samples. Moreover, pH and salinity were found to be the most significant factors affecting comammox community structures, suggesting their roles in driving niche partitioning of comammox, whereas plant types did not show a significant effect on the comammox community structure. Our study provided insights into the abundance, community diversity, and niche partitions of comammox, broadening the current understanding of the relationship of comammox with other ammonia oxidizers in salt marsh ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan-Qi Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China
| | - Chen-Hao Zhou
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China
| | - Ming Nie
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China
| | - Ji-Dong Gu
- Environmental Engineering, Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology, 241 Daxue Road, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhe-Xue Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, People's Republic of China.
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14
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Liu Z, Zhang C, Wei Q, Zhang S, Quan Z, Li M. Temperature and salinity drive comammox community composition in mangrove ecosystems across southeastern China. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 742:140456. [PMID: 32629251 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 06/21/2020] [Accepted: 06/21/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Complete ammonia-oxidizing (comammox) microorganisms are newly recognized nitrifying bacteria found in natural and engineered ecosystems. Mangrove ecosystems are hotspots for nitrogen cycling, but the knowledge of comammox diversity and abundance, and particularly, driving factors, in these ecosystems is scarce. We here used deep sequencing to investigate comammox diversity in six mangrove ecosystems across southeastern China. Our results showed that comammox microorganisms in mangrove sediments were extremely diverse. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a novel comammox group within clade A that formed a distinct cluster for which no reference sequence existed, implying their potential uniqueness. Quantitative PCR demonstrated that comammox abundance was slightly higher than that of the canonical ammonia-oxidizing bacteria but significantly lower than that of ammonia-oxidizing archaea, indicating they are not the dominant ammonia oxidizers in mangrove ecosystems. Finally, variation partition analysis revealed a significant decrease in similarity of comammox communities along the geographical distance, and a pronounced effect of the geographic factors and sediment attributes on the composition of comammox microorganisms and the abundance variations of ammonia oxidizers. Temperature and salinity were the most important contributing factors that shaped the comammox community. Further, detection of diverse comammox microorganisms in extremely high-salinity sediments suggested that this community could adapt to high salinity environments, which indicates salinity may not be a critical factor resulting in the absence of comammox microorganisms in open-ocean environments. This study expanded the current understanding of the diversity and niche preference of comammox in mangrove ecosystems, and further enhanced our understanding of adaptation potential of comammox communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zongbao Liu
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Microbiome Engineering, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, PR China
| | - Cuijing Zhang
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Microbiome Engineering, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, PR China
| | - Qiaoyan Wei
- School of Life and Environmental Science, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, Guangxi, PR China
| | - Siyu Zhang
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Microbiome Engineering, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, PR China
| | - Zhexue Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Meng Li
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Microbiome Engineering, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, PR China.
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15
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Jiang R, Wang JG, Zhu T, Zou B, Wang DQ, Rhee SK, An D, Ji ZY, Quan ZX. Use of Newly Designed Primers for Quantification of Complete Ammonia-Oxidizing (Comammox) Bacterial Clades and Strict Nitrite Oxidizers in the Genus Nitrospira. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020; 86:e01775-20. [PMID: 32826214 PMCID: PMC7531962 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01775-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 08/08/2020] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Complete ammonia-oxidizing (comammox) bacteria play key roles in environmental nitrogen cycling and all belong to the genus Nitrospira, which was originally believed to include only strict nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (sNOB). Thus, differential estimation of sNOB abundance from that of comammox Nitrospira has become problematic, since both contain nitrite oxidoreductase genes that serve as common targets for sNOB detection. Herein, we developed novel comammox Nitrospira clade A- and B-specific primer sets targeting the α-subunit of the ammonia monooxygenase gene (amoA) and a sNOB-specific primer set targeting the cyanase gene (cynS) for quantitative PCR (qPCR). The high coverage and specificity of these primers were checked by use of metagenome and metatranscriptome data sets. Efficient and specific amplification with these primers was demonstrated using various environmental samples. Using the newly designed primers, we successfully estimated the abundances of comammox Nitrospira and sNOB in samples from two chloramination-treated drinking water systems and found that, in most samples, comammox Nitrospira clade A was the dominant type of Nitrospira and also served as the primary ammonia oxidizer. Compared with other ammonia oxidizers, comammox Nitrospira had a higher abundance in process water samples in these two drinking water systems. We also demonstrated that sNOB can be readily misrepresented by an earlier method, calculated by subtracting the comammox Nitrospira abundance from the total Nitrospira abundance, especially when the comammox Nitrospira proportion is relatively high. The new primer sets were successfully applied to comammox Nitrospira and sNOB quantification, which may prove useful in understanding the roles of Nitrospira in nitrification in various ecosystems.IMPORTANCENitrospira is a dominant nitrite-oxidizing bacterium in many artificial and natural environments. The discovery of complete ammonia oxidizers in the genus Nitrospira prevents the use of previously identified primers targeting the Nitrospira 16S rRNA gene or nitrite oxidoreductase (nxr) gene for differential determination of strict nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (sNOB) in the genus Nitrospira and among comammox bacteria in this genus. We designed three novel primer sets that enabled quantification of comammox Nitrospira clades A and B and sNOB with high coverage, specificity, and accuracy in various environments. With the designed primer sets, sNOB and comammox Nitrospira were differentially estimated in drinking water systems, and we found that comammox clade A predominated over sNOB and other ammonia oxidizers in process water samples. Accurate quantification of comammox Nitrospira and sNOB by use of the newly designed primers will provide essential information for evaluating the contribution of Nitrospira to nitrification in various ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran Jiang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jian-Gong Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ting Zhu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Bin Zou
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Dan-Qi Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Sung-Keun Rhee
- Department of Microbiology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
| | - Dong An
- Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhi-Yuan Ji
- Hangzhou Water Holding Group Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhe-Xue Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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16
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Lin C, Xu H, Qin W, Xu S, Tang X, Kuang L, Wang X, Jiang B, Chen J, Shan J, Adams J, Qin H, Wang B. Evaluation of Two Primer Sets for Amplification of Comammox Nitrospira amoA Genes in Wetland Soils. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:560942. [PMID: 33101233 PMCID: PMC7555835 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.560942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
After the discovery of complete ammonia-oxidizing (comammox) Nitrospira, detection and assessments of the contribution of comammox Nitrospira communities to nitrogen cycling are in great demand. PCR-based approach, a common method for the detection of comammox, depends strongly on accurate amplification of the amoA genes from the original DNA samples using appropriate primers. In this study, we reported an evaluation of the performance of two commonly used primer sets, Ntsp-amoA 162F/359R and comaA/B-244f/659r, for amplifying the comammox amoA genes from three representative wetland soils in China [Sangsang (SS), Sanjiang (SJ), and Xianghai (XH)]. Our results demonstrated the two primer sets could both successfully amplify the clades with high relative abundances (RA), and further revealed a broadly similar diversity and community composition of dominant comammox operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (RA ≥ 1%) in each of the three wetland soils. However, the clades with low RA, such as the clade A (1.26%) in SJ and the clade B (11.54%) in XH that were recovered by metagenomics analysis, failed to be amplified using comaA/B-244f/659r, but were successfully amplified and sequenced using Ntsp-amoA 162F/359R. It indicated that, compared to comaA/B-244f/659r, Ntsp-amoA 162F/359R was more sensitive to the clades with low RA. However, it is worth noting that Ntsp-amoA 162F/359R would overestimate the RA of some rare clades. For example, the RAs of clade B in XH were overestimated by 32-fold. Furthermore, high levels of non-target amplification were detected via gel electrophoresis using both primer sets, especially for comammox Clade B amoA genes, implying that we should treat qPCR results based on these primers with caution. Taken together, our study comprehensively compared the performance of the two primer sets on the sensitivity and specificity of amplifying comammox amoA genes in three wetland soils, pointing out the necessity of further development of new primers for the efficient and accurate detection of comammox in various environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenshuo Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China.,Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lake of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hang Xu
- Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lake of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
| | - Wei Qin
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States
| | - Shaoyi Xu
- Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiufeng Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Lu Kuang
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Xinxin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Bin Jiang
- Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, China
| | - Junhui Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jun Shan
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jonathan Adams
- School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hua Qin
- State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Baozhan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.,Key Laboratory of Microbiological Engineering of Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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17
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Global distribution of a chlorophyll f cyanobacterial marker. ISME JOURNAL 2020; 14:2275-2287. [PMID: 32457503 PMCID: PMC7608106 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-0670-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/28/2020] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Some cyanobacteria use light outside the visible spectrum for oxygenic photosynthesis. The far-red light (FRL) region is made accessible through a complex acclimation process that involves the formation of new phycobilisomes and photosystems containing chlorophyll f. Diverse cyanobacteria ranging from unicellular to branched-filamentous forms show this response. These organisms have been isolated from shaded environments such as microbial mats, soil, rock, and stromatolites. However, the full spread of chlorophyll f-containing species in nature is still unknown. Currently, discovering new chlorophyll f cyanobacteria involves lengthy incubation times under selective far-red light. We have used a marker gene to detect chlorophyll f organisms in environmental samples and metagenomic data. This marker, apcE2, encodes a phycobilisome linker associated with FRL-photosynthesis. By focusing on a far-red motif within the sequence, degenerate PCR and BLAST searches can effectively discriminate against the normal chlorophyll a-associated apcE. Even short recovered sequences carry enough information for phylogenetic placement. Markers of chlorophyll f photosynthesis were found in metagenomic datasets from diverse environments around the globe, including cyanobacterial symbionts, hypersaline lakes, corals, and the Arctic/Antarctic regions. This additional information enabled higher phylogenetic resolution supporting the hypothesis that vertical descent, as opposed to horizontal gene transfer, is largely responsible for this phenotype’s distribution.
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18
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Zhao Z, Huang G, He S, Zhou N, Wang M, Dang C, Wang J, Zheng M. Abundance and community composition of comammox bacteria in different ecosystems by a universal primer set. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2019; 691:146-155. [PMID: 31319252 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Revised: 07/07/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Complete ammonia oxidizing bacteria (CAOB) have been recognized as a new member of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOMs) due to its single-step nitrification capability. However, the abundance and diversity of CAOB in environmental ecosystems were still far from known owing to the lack of specific molecular marker. Herein, a universal primer set specifically targeting both clades of CAOB amoA gene with high specificity and coverage was successfully designed. Intriguingly, real-time quantitative PCR tests revealed that CAOB were ubiquitous and unexpectedly abundant in agricultural soils, river sediments, intertidal zones, drinking water and wastewater treatment systems. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that clade A existed in all the five types of ecosystems, while clade B were only detected in soil and sediment samples. Four sub-clusters were further classified within clade A, in which N. nitrosa cluster dominated CAOB amoA in activated sludge samples while the new recognized soil cluster was the primary constitute in soils. Moreover, the niche specialization between different CAOB species and the environmental conditions were supposed to be the primary driven force to shape the diversity and community of CAOB. This study provided a strong evidence in support of the ubiquities and high abundances of CAOB in various environmental ecosystems and highlighted the significance of including CAOB as the new member of AOMs to re-evaluate the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhirong Zhao
- MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Guohe Huang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Shishi He
- MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Nan Zhou
- MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Mingyuan Wang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Chenyuan Dang
- The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Jiawen Wang
- The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Maosheng Zheng
- MOE Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.
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19
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Houghton KM, Carere CR, Stott MB, McDonald IR. Thermophilic methanotrophs: in hot pursuit. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2019; 95:5543213. [DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiz125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACTMethane is a potent greenhouse gas responsible for 20–30% of global climate change effects. The global methane budget is ∼500–600 Tg y−1, with the majority of methane produced via microbial processes, including anthropogenic-mediated sources such as ruminant animals, rice fields, sewage treatment facilities and landfills. It is estimated that microbially mediated methane oxidation (methanotrophy) consumes >50% of global methane flux each year. Methanotrophy research has primarily focused on mesophilic methanotrophic representatives and cooler environments such as freshwater, wetlands or marine habitats from which they are sourced. Nevertheless, geothermal emissions of geological methane, produced from magma and lithosphere degassing micro-seepages, mud volcanoes and other geological sources, contribute an estimated 33–75 Tg y−1 to the global methane budget. The aim of this review is to summarise current literature pertaining to the activity of thermophilic and thermotolerant methanotrophs, both proteobacterial (Methylocaldum, Methylococcus, Methylothermus) and verrucomicrobial (Methylacidiphilum). We assert, on the basis of recently reported molecular and geochemical data, that geothermal ecosystems host hitherto unidentified species capable of methane oxidation at higher temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen M Houghton
- GNS Science, Wairakei Research Centre, 114 Karetoto Rd, Taupō 3384, New Zealand
- School of Science, University of Waikato, Knighton Rd, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
| | - Carlo R Carere
- GNS Science, Wairakei Research Centre, 114 Karetoto Rd, Taupō 3384, New Zealand
- Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Canterbury, 20 Kirkwood Ave, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
| | - Matthew B Stott
- GNS Science, Wairakei Research Centre, 114 Karetoto Rd, Taupō 3384, New Zealand
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, 20 Kirkwood Ave, Upper Riccarton, Christchurch 8041, New Zealand
| | - Ian R McDonald
- School of Science, University of Waikato, Knighton Rd, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand
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20
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Jiang Q, Xia F, Zhu T, Wang D, Quan Z. Distribution of comammox and canonical ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria in tidal flat sediments of the Yangtze River estuary at different depths over four seasons. J Appl Microbiol 2019; 127:533-543. [DOI: 10.1111/jam.14337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2019] [Revised: 05/23/2019] [Accepted: 05/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Q. Jiang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences Fudan University Shanghai P.R. China
| | - F. Xia
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences Fudan University Shanghai P.R. China
- School of Food and Biological Engineering Shaanxi University of Science and Technology Xi’an P.R. China
| | - T. Zhu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences Fudan University Shanghai P.R. China
| | - D. Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences Fudan University Shanghai P.R. China
| | - Z. Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences Fudan University Shanghai P.R. China
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Xia F, Wang JG, Zhu T, Zou B, Rhee SK, Quan ZX. Ubiquity and Diversity of Complete Ammonia Oxidizers (Comammox). Appl Environ Microbiol 2018; 84:e01390-18. [PMID: 30315079 PMCID: PMC6275355 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01390-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The discovery of complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox) refutes the century-old paradigm that nitrification requires the activity of two types of microbes. Determining the distribution and abundance of comammox in various environments is important for revealing the ecology of microbial nitrification within the global nitrogen cycle. In this study, the ubiquity and diversity of comammox were analyzed for samples from different types of environments, including soil, sediment, sludge, and water. The results of a two-step PCR using highly degenerate primers (THDP-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) supported the relatively high abundance of comammox in nearly half of all samples tested, sometimes even outnumbering canonical ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). In addition, a relatively high proportion of comammox in tap and coastal water samples was confirmed via analysis of metagenomic data sets in public databases. The diversity of comammox was estimated by comammox-specific partial nested PCR amplification of the ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) gene, and phylogenetic analysis of comammox AmoA clearly showed a split of clade A into clades A.1 and A.2, with the proportions of clades A.1, A.2, and B differing among the various environmental samples. Moreover, compared to the amoA genes of AOB and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), the comammox amoA gene exhibited higher diversity indices. The ubiquitous distribution and high diversity of comammox indicate that they are likely overlooked contributors to nitrification in various ecosystems.IMPORTANCE The discovery of complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), which oxidize ammonia to nitrate via nitrite, refutes the century-old paradigm that nitrification requires the activity of two types of microbes and redefines a key process in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle. Understanding the functional relationships between comammox and other nitrifiers is important for ecological studies on the nitrogen cycle. Therefore, the diversity and contribution of comammox should be considered during ecological analyses of nitrifying microorganisms. In this study, a ubiquitous and highly diverse distribution of comammox was observed in various environmental samples, similar to the distribution of canonical ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. The proportion of comammox was relatively high in coastal water and sediment samples, whereas it was nearly undetectable in open-ocean samples. The ubiquitous distribution and high diversity of comammox indicate that these microorganisms might be important contributors to nitrification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Xia
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, China
| | - Jian-Gong Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ting Zhu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Bin Zou
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Sung-Keun Rhee
- Department of Microbiology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
| | - Zhe-Xue Quan
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Institute of Biodiversity Science, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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22
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Wang M, Huang G, Zhao Z, Dang C, Liu W, Zheng M. Newly designed primer pair revealed dominant and diverse comammox amoA gene in full-scale wastewater treatment plants. BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY 2018; 270:580-587. [PMID: 30261485 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2018] [Revised: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 09/16/2018] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The discovery of complete ammonia oxidizing bacteria (CAOB) capable of performing the two-step nitrification process on their own has fundamentally upended our traditional perception. However, their environmental distribution and ecological significance in driving ammonia oxidation are still urgently awaited to be assessed. In this study, the diversity and abundance of CAOB amoA gene in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were presented taking advantage of a newly designed primer pair specifically targeting CAOB amoA gene. Phylogenetic results demonstrated the novel amoA gene formed a clearly distinct cluster from the canonical amoA and pmoA genes. Among the five well-supported sub-clusters, Nitrospira nitrosa cluster accounted for 94.34% of all the currently retrieved sequences from WWTPs. More importantly, qPCR results demonstrated a remarkably high abundance of CAOB amoA gene, which were up to 182.7-fold more abundant than AOB amoA gene. This study provided new dimension and fundamental basis for future researches towards biogeochemical nitrogen cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingyuan Wang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Guohe Huang
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Zhirong Zhao
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Chenyuan Dang
- Department of Environmental Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Wen Liu
- Department of Environmental Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Maosheng Zheng
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Systems Optimization, Ministry of Education, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.
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23
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Khadka R, Clothier L, Wang L, Lim CK, Klotz MG, Dunfield PF. Evolutionary History of Copper Membrane Monooxygenases. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2493. [PMID: 30420840 PMCID: PMC6215863 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Copper membrane monooxygenases (CuMMOs) oxidize ammonia, methane and some short-chain alkanes and alkenes. They are encoded by three genes, usually in an operon of xmoCAB. We aligned xmo operons from 66 microbial genomes, including members of the Alpha-, Beta-, and Gamma-proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Thaumarchaeota and the candidate phylum NC10. Phylogenetic and compositional analyses were used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the enzyme and detect potential lateral gene transfer (LGT) events. The phylogenetic analyses showed at least 10 clusters corresponding to a combination of substrate specificity and bacterial taxonomy, but with no overriding structure based on either function or taxonomy alone. Adaptation of the enzyme to preferentially oxidize either ammonia or methane has occurred more than once. Individual phylogenies of all three genes, xmoA, xmoB and xmoC, closely matched, indicating that this operon evolved or was consistently transferred as a unit, with the possible exception of the methane monooxygenase operons in Verrucomicrobia, where the pmoB gene has a distinct phylogeny from pmoA and pmoC. Compositional analyses indicated that some clusters of xmoCAB operons (for example, the pmoCAB in gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs and the amoCAB in betaproteobacterial nitrifiers) were compositionally very different from their genomes, possibly indicating recent lateral transfer of these operons. The combined phylogenetic and compositional analyses support the hypothesis that an ancestor of the nitrifying bacterium Nitrosococcus was the donor of methane monooxygenase (pMMO) to both the alphaproteobacterial and gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs, but that before this event the gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs originally possessed another CuMMO (Pxm), which has since been lost in many species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roshan Khadka
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Lindsay Clothier
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Lin Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States
| | - Chee Kent Lim
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States
| | - Martin G Klotz
- School of Molecular Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Richland, WA, United States.,State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Peter F Dunfield
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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24
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Yu C, Hou L, Zheng Y, Liu M, Yin G, Gao J, Liu C, Chang Y, Han P. Evidence for complete nitrification in enrichment culture of tidal sediments and diversity analysis of clade a comammox Nitrospira in natural environments. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2018; 102:9363-9377. [PMID: 30094589 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-018-9274-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2018] [Revised: 06/26/2018] [Accepted: 07/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox), as novel microbial communities, are predicted to play an important role in the nitrogen cycle. Here we reported the presence of complete nitrification in tidal sediments and examined the diversity and abundance of comammox in natural ecosystems. Metagenome and metatranscriptome of the enrichment culture from tidal sediments harbored the genes of comammox. Near-complete comammox AmoA/B/C- and Hao-like sequences showed close relationships to the known comammox (with sequence identity from 79 to 99%) rather than classical betaproteobacterial ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (β-AOB) (57 to 66%) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) (24 to 38%). To analyze the diversity of comammox in natural environments, a new primer set targeting clade A comammox Nitrospira (COM-A) amoA genes was designed based on sequences obtained in this study and sequences from published database. In silico evaluation of the primers showed the high coverage of 89 and 100% in the COM-A amoA database. Application of the primers in six different ecosystems proved their strong availability. Community composition of COM-A suggested a relatively higher diversity than β-AOB in similar environments. Quantification results showed that COM-A amoA genes accounted for about 0.4-5.6% in total amoA genes. These results provide novel insight into our perception of the enigmatic comammox and have significant implications for profound understanding of complex nitrification process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chendi Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Lijun Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
| | - Yanling Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
- School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
| | - Min Liu
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China.
- School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China.
| | - Guoyu Yin
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
- School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
| | - Juan Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Cheng Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Yongkai Chang
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
| | - Ping Han
- Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science (Ministry of Education), East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
- School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China
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25
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Fowler SJ, Palomo A, Dechesne A, Mines PD, Smets BF. Comammox Nitrospira are abundant ammonia oxidizers in diverse groundwater-fed rapid sand filter communities. Environ Microbiol 2018; 20:1002-1015. [PMID: 29314644 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 123] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2017] [Revised: 12/06/2017] [Accepted: 12/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The recent discovery of completely nitrifying Nitrospira demands a re-examination of nitrifying environments to evaluate their contribution to nitrogen cycling. To approach this challenge, tools are needed to detect and quantify comammox Nitrospira. We present primers for the simultaneous quantification and diversity assessement of both comammox Nitrospira clades. The primers cover a wide range of comammox diversity, spanning all available high quality sequences. We applied these primers to 12 groundwater-fed rapid sand filters, and found comammox Nitrospira to be abundant in all filters. Clade B comammox comprise the majority (∼75%) of comammox abundance in all filters. Nitrosomonadaceae were present in all filters, although at low abundance (mean = 1.8%). Ordination suggests that temperature impacts the structure of nitrifying communities, and in particular that increasing temperature favours Nitrospira. The nitrogen content of the filter material, sulfate concentration and surface ammonium loading rates shape the structure of the comammox guild in the filters. This work provides an assay for simultaneous detection and diversity assessment of clades A and B comammox Nitrospira, expands our current knowledge of comammox Nitrospira diversity and demonstrates a key role for comammox Nitrospira in nitrification in groundwater-fed biofilters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan Jane Fowler
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Alejandro Palomo
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Arnaud Dechesne
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Paul D Mines
- Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Barth F Smets
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby 2800, Denmark
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26
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Ghashghavi M, Jetten MSM, Lüke C. Survey of methanotrophic diversity in various ecosystems by degenerate methane monooxygenase gene primers. AMB Express 2017; 7:162. [PMID: 28831762 PMCID: PMC5567572 DOI: 10.1186/s13568-017-0466-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2017] [Accepted: 08/17/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas contributing to about 20% of global warming. Its mitigation is conducted by methane oxidizing bacteria that act as a biofilter using methane as their energy and carbon source. Since their first discovery in 1906, methanotrophs have been studied using a complementary array of methods. One of the most used molecular methods involves PCR amplification of the functional gene marker for the diagnostic of copper and iron containing particulate methane monooxygenase. To investigate the diversity of methanotrophs and to extend their possible molecular detection, we designed a new set of degenerate methane monooxygenase primers to target an 850 nucleotide long sequence stretch from pmoC to pmoA. The primers were based on all available full genomic pmoCAB operons. The newly designed primers were tested on various pure cultures, enrichment cultures and environmental samples using PCR. The results demonstrated that this primer set has the ability to correctly amplify the about 850 nucleotide long pmoCA product from Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and the NC10 phyla methanotrophs. The new primer set will thus be a valuable tool to screen ecosystems and can be applied in conjunction with previously used pmoA primers to extend the diversity of currently known methane-oxidizing bacteria.
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27
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Pjevac P, Schauberger C, Poghosyan L, Herbold CW, van Kessel MAHJ, Daebeler A, Steinberger M, Jetten MSM, Lücker S, Wagner M, Daims H. AmoA-Targeted Polymerase Chain Reaction Primers for the Specific Detection and Quantification of Comammox Nitrospira in the Environment. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1508. [PMID: 28824606 PMCID: PMC5543084 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 195] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2017] [Accepted: 07/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, has always been considered to be catalyzed by the concerted activity of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing microorganisms. Only recently, complete ammonia oxidizers ("comammox"), which oxidize ammonia to nitrate on their own, were identified in the bacterial genus Nitrospira, previously assumed to contain only canonical nitrite oxidizers. Nitrospira are widespread in nature, but for assessments of the distribution and functional importance of comammox Nitrospira in ecosystems, cultivation-independent tools to distinguish comammox from strictly nitrite-oxidizing Nitrospira are required. Here we developed new PCR primer sets that specifically target the amoA genes coding for subunit A of the distinct ammonia monooxygenase of comammox Nitrospira. While existing primers capture only a fraction of the known comammox amoA diversity, the new primer sets cover as much as 95% of the comammox amoA clade A and 92% of the clade B sequences in a reference database containing 326 comammox amoA genes with sequence information at the primer binding sites. Application of the primers to 13 samples from engineered systems (a groundwater well, drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment plants) and other habitats (rice paddy and forest soils, rice rhizosphere, brackish lake sediment and freshwater biofilm) detected comammox Nitrospira in all samples and revealed a considerable diversity of comammox in most habitats. Excellent primer specificity for comammox amoA was achieved by avoiding the use of highly degenerate primer preparations and by using equimolar mixtures of oligonucleotides that match existing comammox amoA genes. Quantitative PCR with these equimolar primer mixtures was highly sensitive and specific, and enabled the efficient quantification of clade A and clade B comammox amoA gene copy numbers in environmental samples. The measured relative abundances of comammox Nitrospira, compared to canonical ammonia oxidizers, were highly variable across environments. The new comammox amoA-targeted primers enable more encompassing future studies of nitrifying microorganisms in diverse habitats. For example, they may be used to monitor the population dynamics of uncultured comammox organisms under changing environmental conditions and in response to altered treatments in engineered and agricultural ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Pjevac
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Clemens Schauberger
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Lianna Poghosyan
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Craig W. Herbold
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Maartje A. H. J. van Kessel
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Anne Daebeler
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Michaela Steinberger
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Mike S. M. Jetten
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Sebastian Lücker
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Michael Wagner
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Holger Daims
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network ‘Chemistry meets Microbiology’, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
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28
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Pjevac P, Schauberger C, Poghosyan L, Herbold CW, van Kessel MAHJ, Daebeler A, Steinberger M, Jetten MSM, Lücker S, Wagner M, Daims H. AmoA-Targeted Polymerase Chain Reaction Primers for the Specific Detection and Quantification of Comammox Nitrospira in the Environment. Front Microbiol 2017. [PMID: 28824606 DOI: 10.1101/096891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, has always been considered to be catalyzed by the concerted activity of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing microorganisms. Only recently, complete ammonia oxidizers ("comammox"), which oxidize ammonia to nitrate on their own, were identified in the bacterial genus Nitrospira, previously assumed to contain only canonical nitrite oxidizers. Nitrospira are widespread in nature, but for assessments of the distribution and functional importance of comammox Nitrospira in ecosystems, cultivation-independent tools to distinguish comammox from strictly nitrite-oxidizing Nitrospira are required. Here we developed new PCR primer sets that specifically target the amoA genes coding for subunit A of the distinct ammonia monooxygenase of comammox Nitrospira. While existing primers capture only a fraction of the known comammox amoA diversity, the new primer sets cover as much as 95% of the comammox amoA clade A and 92% of the clade B sequences in a reference database containing 326 comammox amoA genes with sequence information at the primer binding sites. Application of the primers to 13 samples from engineered systems (a groundwater well, drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment plants) and other habitats (rice paddy and forest soils, rice rhizosphere, brackish lake sediment and freshwater biofilm) detected comammox Nitrospira in all samples and revealed a considerable diversity of comammox in most habitats. Excellent primer specificity for comammox amoA was achieved by avoiding the use of highly degenerate primer preparations and by using equimolar mixtures of oligonucleotides that match existing comammox amoA genes. Quantitative PCR with these equimolar primer mixtures was highly sensitive and specific, and enabled the efficient quantification of clade A and clade B comammox amoA gene copy numbers in environmental samples. The measured relative abundances of comammox Nitrospira, compared to canonical ammonia oxidizers, were highly variable across environments. The new comammox amoA-targeted primers enable more encompassing future studies of nitrifying microorganisms in diverse habitats. For example, they may be used to monitor the population dynamics of uncultured comammox organisms under changing environmental conditions and in response to altered treatments in engineered and agricultural ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petra Pjevac
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Clemens Schauberger
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Lianna Poghosyan
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Craig W Herbold
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Maartje A H J van Kessel
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Anne Daebeler
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Michaela Steinberger
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Mike S M Jetten
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Sebastian Lücker
- Department of Microbiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR), Radboud UniversityNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Michael Wagner
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Holger Daims
- Division of Microbial Ecology, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Research Network 'Chemistry meets Microbiology', University of ViennaVienna, Austria
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29
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Wang JG, Xia F, Zeleke J, Zou B, Quan ZX. Tagged Highly Degenerate Primer (THDP)-PCR for Community Analysis of Methane- and Ammonia-oxidizing Bacteria Based on Copper-containing Membrane-bound Monooxygenases (CuMMO). Bio Protoc 2017; 7:e2354. [DOI: 10.21769/bioprotoc.2354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2017] [Revised: 05/14/2017] [Accepted: 05/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/02/2022] Open
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