Unifying the global phylogeny and environmental distribution of ammonia-oxidising archaea based on amoA genes

Ricardo J. Eloy Alves, Bui Quang Minh, Tim Urich, Arndt Haeseler and Christa Schleper ()
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Ricardo J. Eloy Alves: University of Vienna
Bui Quang Minh: Medical University of Vienna
Tim Urich: Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University
Arndt Haeseler: Medical University of Vienna
Christa Schleper: University of Vienna

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Ammonia-oxidising archaea (AOA) are ubiquitous and abundant in nature and play a major role in nitrogen cycling. AOA have been studied intensively based on the amoA gene (encoding ammonia monooxygenase subunit A), making it the most sequenced functional marker gene. Here, based on extensive phylogenetic and meta-data analyses of 33,378 curated archaeal amoA sequences, we define a highly resolved taxonomy and uncover global environmental patterns that challenge many earlier generalisations. Particularly, we show: (i) the global frequency of AOA is extremely uneven, with few clades dominating AOA diversity in most ecosystems; (ii) characterised AOA do not represent most predominant clades in nature, including soils and oceans; (iii) the functional role of the most prevalent environmental AOA clade remains unclear; and (iv) AOA harbour molecular signatures that possibly reflect phenotypic traits. Our work synthesises information from a decade of research and provides the first integrative framework to study AOA in a global context.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03861-1

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