Diversity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in the sediments of a hypernutrified subtropical estuary: Bahia del Tobari, Mexico.

ABSTRACT: Nitrification within estuarine sediments plays an important role in the nitrogen cycle, both at the global scale and in individual estuaries. Although bacteria were once thought to be solely responsible for catalyzing the first and rate-limiting step of this process, several recent studies have suggested that mesophilic Crenarchaeota are capable of performing ammonia oxidation. Here we examine the diversity (richness and community composition) of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) within sediments of Bahía del Tóbari, a hypernutrified estuary receiving substantial amounts of ammonium in agricultural runoff. Using PCR primers designed to specifically target the archaeal ammonia monooxygenase alpha-subunit (amoA) gene, we found AOA to be present at five sampling sites within

SUBMITTER: Beman JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1694203 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature