Particle-Attached and Free-Living Archaeal Communities in the Benthic Boundary Layer of the Mariana Trench.

ABSTRACT: The benthic boundary layer (BBL) is the part of the water column that is situated near to the sediment surface, where active oceanic biogeochemical cycling occurs. Archaea play an important role in mediating this cycling, however, their composition and diversity in the BBL remain largely unknown. We investigated the community composition and abundance of both particle-attached (PA) and free-living (FL) archaea in the BBL on the slopes of the Mariana Trench using Illumina sequencing and quantitative PCR (qPCR), at both the DNA and RNA levels. Our results showed that Thaumarchaeota (>90%) and Woesearchaeota (1-10%) dominated in all the BBL samples, and that the former was composed mainly of Marine Group I (MGI). A clear separation of PA and FL samples was observed, and they showed a high lev

SUBMITTER: Jing H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6258811 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature