High diversity of nitrifying bacteria and archaea in biofilms from a subsea tunnel.

ABSTRACT: Microbial biofilm formation can contribute to the accelerated deterioration of steel-reinforced concrete structures and significantly impact their service life, making it critical to understand the diversity of the biofilm community and prevailing processes in these habitats. Here, we analyzed 16S rRNA gene amplicon and metagenomics sequencing data to study the abundance and diversity of nitrifiers within biofilms on the concrete surface of the Oslofjord subsea road tunnel in Norway. We showed that the abundance of nitrifiers varied greatly in time and space, with a mean abundance of 24.7 ± 15% but a wide range between 1.2% and 61.4%. We hypothesize that niche differentiation allows the coexistence of several nitrifier groups and that their high diversity increases the resilience to fluctu

SUBMITTER: Kop LFM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11995701 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature