Linking isoprenoidal GDGT membrane lipid distributions with gene abundances of ammonia‐oxidizing T haumarchaeota and uncultured crenarchaeotal groups in the water column of a tropical lake ( L ake C halla, E ast A frica)

• Published in: Environmental microbiology 2013-09, Vol.15 (9), p.2445-2462
• Main Authors: Buckles, Laura K., Villanueva, Laura, Weijers, Johan W. H., Verschuren, Dirk, Damsté, Jaap S. Sinninghe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1462-2912; 1462-2920
• DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.12118

Stratified lakes are important reservoirs of microbial diversity and provide habitats for niche differentiation of A rchaea . In this study, we used a lipid biomarker/ DNA ‐based approach to reveal the diversity and abundance of A rchaea in the water column of L ake C halla ( E ast Africa). Concentrations of intact polar lipid ( IPL ) crenarchaeol, a specific biomarker of T haumarchaeota , were enhanced (1 ng l −1 ) at the oxycline/nitrocline. The predominance of the more labile IPL hexose‐phosphohexose crenarchaeol indicated the presence of an actively living community of T haumarchaeota . Archaeal 16 S rRNA clone libraries revealed the presence of thaumarchaeotal groups 1.1a and 1.1b at and above the oxycline. In the anoxic deep water, amoA gene abundance was an order of magnitude lower than at the oxycline and high abundance (∼ 90 ng l −1 ) of an IPL with the acyclic glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether ( GDGT ‐0) was evident. The predominance of archaeal 16 S rRNA sequences affiliated to the uncultured crenarchaeota groups 1.2 and miscellaneous crenarchaeotic group ( MCG ) points to an origin of GDGT ‐0 from uncultured crenarchaeota. This study demonstrates the importance of thermal stratification and nutrient availability in the distribution of archaeal groups in lakes, which is relevant to constrain and validate temperature proxies based on archaeal GDGTs (i.e. TEX 86 ).