title: Abundance and community composition of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in two different zones of Lake Taihu.
abstract: The abundance and community composition of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the surface sediments of 2 different zones (Meiliang Bay and Eastern Lake Taihu) of Lake Taihu were investigated using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and clone libraries. The  amoA  gene copy numbers in the surface sediment of Meiliang Bay ranged from 4.91 × 10(5) to 8.65 × 10(6) copies/g dry sediment for the archaeal amoA gene and from 3.74 × 10(4) to 3.86 × 10(5) copies/g dry sediment for the bacterial amoA gene, which were significantly higher than those of Eastern Lake Taihu (P < 0.05). Concentrations of ammonia (NH(4)(+)), total nitrogen, organic matter, and pH of the sediments exhibited significantly negative correlations with the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea or ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01, respectively). The potential nitrification rates show remarkable correlations with the copy numbers of the archaeal amoA gene. Diversity of the archaeal amoA gene in Eastern Lake Taihu was significantly higher than that of Meiliang Bay, whereas the bacterial amoA gene diversity was comparable for the 2 lake zones. The data obtained in this study would be useful to elucidate the role of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in the nitrogen cycle of freshwater ecosystems.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China. jzeng@niglas.ac.cn
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Zeng
authors: Da-Yong
authors: DY
authors: Zhao
authors: Rui
authors: R
authors: Huang
authors: Qinglong L
authors: QL
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D019766:Genes, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010802:Phylogeny; D011156:Population Density; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D000641:Ammonia