Archaeal community diversity and abundance changes along a natural salinity gradient in estuarine sediments

Webster, Gordon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-7835, O'Sullivan, Louise A., Meng, Yiyu, Williams, Angharad S., Sass, A. M., Watkins, Andrew J., Parkes, Ronald John and Weightman, Andrew John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6671-2209 2015. Archaeal community diversity and abundance changes along a natural salinity gradient in estuarine sediments. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 91 (2) , pp. 1-18. 10.1093/femsec/fiu025

Preview

PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Archaea are widespread in marine sediments, but their occurrence and relationship with natural salinity gradients in estuarine sediments is not well understood. This study investigated the abundance and diversity of Archaea in sediments at three sites (Brightlingsea [BR], Alresford [AR] and Hythe [HY]) along the Colne Estuary, using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) of 16S rRNA genes, DNA hybridisation, Archaea 16S rRNA and mcrA gene phylogenetic analyses. Total archaeal 16S rRNA abundance in sediments were higher in the low-salinity brackish sediments from HY (2–8 × 107 16S rRNA gene copies cm−3) than the high-salinity marine sites from BR and AR (2 × 104–2 × 107 and 4 × 106–2 × 107 16S rRNA gene copies cm−3, respectively), although as a proportion of the total prokaryotes Archaea were higher at BR than at AR or HY. Phylogenetic analysis showed that members of the ‘Bathyarchaeota’ (MCG), Thaumarchaeota and methanogenic Euryarchaeota were the dominant groups of Archaea. The composition of Thaumarchaeota varied with salinity, as only ‘marine’ group I.1a was present in marine sediments (BR). Methanogen 16S rRNA genes from low-salinity sediments at HY were dominated by acetotrophic Methanosaeta and putatively hydrogentrophic Methanomicrobiales, whereas the marine site (BR) was dominated by mcrA genes belonging to methylotrophic Methanococcoides, versatile Methanosarcina and methanotrophic ANME-2a. Overall, the results indicate that salinity and associated factors play a role in controlling diversity and distribution of Archaea in estuarine sediments.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences Earth and Environmental Sciences
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0168-6496/ (accessed 22.01.15). First published online: 15 December 2014
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	1574-6941
Funders:	NERC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	11 December 2014
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 22:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/69591

Citation Data

Cited 75 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item