Ecological features and global distribution of Asgard archaea

Asgard is a newly proposed archaeal superphylum, which has been suggested to hold the key to decipher the origin of Eukaryotes. However, their ecology remains largely unknown. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of publicly available Asgard-associated 16S rRNA gene fragments, and found that just thre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2021-03, Vol.758, p.143581-143581, Article 143581
Main Authors: Cai, Mingwei, Richter-Heitmann, Tim, Yin, Xiuran, Huang, Wen-Cong, Yang, Yuchun, Zhang, Cuijing, Duan, Changhai, Pan, Jie, Liu, Yang, Liu, Yue, Friedrich, Michael W., Li, Meng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Archaea - genetics
Asgard archaea
Biotope
Co-occurrence
Environmental drivers
Eukaryota
Geologic Sediments
Phylogeny
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics
Salinity
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Summary:Asgard is a newly proposed archaeal superphylum, which has been suggested to hold the key to decipher the origin of Eukaryotes. However, their ecology remains largely unknown. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of publicly available Asgard-associated 16S rRNA gene fragments, and found that just three previously proposed clades (Lokiarchaeota, Thorarchaeota, and Asgard clade 4) are widely distributed, whereas the other seven clades (phylum or class level) are restricted to the sediment biosphere. Asgard archaea, especially Loki- and Thorarchaeota, seem to adapt to marine sediments, and water depth (the depth of the sediment below water surface) and salinity might be crucial factors for the proportion of these microorganisms as revealed by multivariate regression analyses. However, the abundance of Asgard archaea exhibited distinct environmental drivers at the clade-level; for instance, the proportion of Asgard clade 4 was higher in less saline environments (salinity
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143581