Archaea predominate among ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in soils

S. Leininger, T. Urich, M. Schloter, L. Schwark, J. Qi, G. W. Nicol, J. I. Prosser, S. C. Schuster and C. Schleper ()
Additional contact information
S. Leininger: University of Bergen
T. Urich: University of Bergen
M. Schloter: Institute of Soil Ecology, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health
L. Schwark: Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne
J. Qi: Penn State University, Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics
G. W. Nicol: University of Aberdeen
J. I. Prosser: University of Aberdeen
S. C. Schuster: Penn State University, Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics
C. Schleper: University of Bergen

Nature, 2006, vol. 442, issue 7104, 806-809

Abstract: Soil bacteria yield to archaea Nitrification, the microbial conversion of ammonia to nitrate, is a key process in the global nitrogen cycle. It has been generally assumed that specialist bacteria are the main aerobic ammonia oxidizers on the soil. An analysis of the abundance of the amoA gene encoding a subunit of the key enzyme ammonia monooxygenase shows that in twelve different soil types from three different climatic zones, amoA gene copies from archaea of the kingdom Crenarchaeota were up to 3,000-fold more abundant than bacterial amoA. So in both pristine and agricultural soils, it seems that archaea are by far the dominant ammonia oxidizers.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04983

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