Urea use drives niche separation between dominant marine ammonia oxidizing archaea.

ABSTRACT: Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) are among the most abundant microorganisms in the ocean and play a critical role in marine nitrogen cycling. Recently, urea has been shown to serve as an additional substrate for marine AOA, with substantial urea use in the ammonium-depleted open-ocean. Yet, the mechanisms that control urea use and potentially maintain high AOA abundances remain unclear. Here, we investigate urea and ammonia use by AOA in three contrasting marine environments, from coastal, ammonium-rich to open-ocean, ammonium-poor waters. Our combined results indicate that distinct substrate utilization strategies of Nitrosopumilus and Nitrosopelagicus control their environmental distribution. The more coastal AOA genus, Nitrosopumilus, primarily uses ammonium. In contrast, enhanced urea u

SUBMITTER: Stuehrenberg J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12686405 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature