title: Variability of the transporter gene complement in ammonia-oxidizing archaea.
abstract: Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) are a widespread and abundant component of microbial communities in many different ecosystems. The extent of physiological differences between individual AOA is, however, unknown. Here, we compare the transporter gene complements of six AOA, from four different environments and two major clades, to assess their potential for substrate uptake and efflux. Each of the corresponding AOA genomes encode a unique set of transporters and although the composition of AOA transporter complements follows a phylogenetic pattern, few transporter families are conserved in all investigated genomes. A comparison of ammonia transporters encoded by archaeal and bacterial ammonia oxidizers highlights the variance among AOA lineages as well as their distinction from the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, and suggests differential ecological adaptations.
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Division, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Wien, Austria. Electronic address: pierre.offre@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Offre
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Division, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Melina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kerou
authors.affiliation: Uppsala University, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Box 596, SE-75123, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Spang
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics Division, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Wien, Austria. Electronic address: christa.schleper@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Christa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schleper
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism*; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020745:Genome, Archaeal; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D000641:Ammonia
keywords: Thaumarchaeota; ammonium; ecological niche; genomics; transporters