Abundance and composition of epiphytic bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidizers of marine red and brown macroalgae.

ABSTRACT: Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) are important for nitrogen cycling in marine ecosystems. Little is known about the diversity and abundance of these organisms on the surface of marine macroalgae, despite the algae's potential importance to create surfaces and local oxygen-rich environments supporting ammonia oxidation at depths with low dissolved oxygen levels. We determined the abundance and composition of the epiphytic bacterial and archaeal ammonia-oxidizing communities on three species of macroalgae, Osmundaria volubilis, Phyllophora crispa, and Laminaria rodriguezii, from the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean Sea). Quantitative PCR of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA and amoA genes was performed. In contrast to what has been shown for most other marine environme

SUBMITTER: Trias R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3255731 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature