title: Latitudinal distribution of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in the agricultural soils of eastern China.
abstract: The response of soil ammonia-oxidizing bacterial (AOB) and archaeal (AOA) communities to individual environmental variables (e.g., pH, temperature, and carbon- and nitrogen-related soil nutrients) has been extensively studied, but how these environmental conditions collectively shape AOB and AOA distributions in unmanaged agricultural soils across a large latitudinal gradient remains poorly known. In this study, the AOB and AOA community structure and diversity in 26 agricultural soils collected from eastern China were investigated by using quantitative PCR and bar-coded 454 pyrosequencing of the amoA gene that encodes the alpha subunit of ammonia monooxygenase. The sampling locations span over a 17° latitude gradient and cover a range of climatic conditions. The Nitrosospira and Nitrososphaera were the dominant clusters of AOB and AOA, respectively; but the subcluster-level composition of Nitrosospira-related AOB and Nitrososphaera-related AOA varied across the latitudinal gradient. Variance partitioning analysis showed that geography and climatic conditions (e.g., mean annual temperature and precipitation), as well as carbon-/nitrogen-related soil nutrients, contributed more to the AOB and AOA community variations (∼50% in total) than soil pH (∼10% in total). These results are important in furthering our understanding of environmental conditions influencing AOB and AOA community structure across a range of environmental gradients.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China jiangh@cug.edu.cn dongh@cug.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongchen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liuqin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Quality Standards for Agricultural Products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Information Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA jiangh@cug.edu.cn dongh@cug.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hailiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism*; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D058448:Biota; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D002980:Climate; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon; D000641:Ammonia; D010088:Oxidoreductases; C045582:ammonia monooxygenase