Environmental Factors Shape Sediment Anammox Bacterial Communities in Hypernutrified Jiaozhou Bay, China

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2010-11, Vol.76 (21), p.7036-7047
• Main Authors: Dang, Hongyue, Chen, Ruipeng, Wang, Lin, Guo, Lizhong, Chen, Pingping, Tang, Zuwang, Tian, Fang, Li, Shaozheng, Klotz, Martin G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Ammonia; Bacteria; Bacteria, Anaerobic - genetics; Bacteria, Anaerobic - isolation & purification; Bacteria, Anaerobic - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; China; Coasts; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Environment; Environmental Microbiology; Eutrophication; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genes, Bacterial - genetics; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Nitrogen; Oceans and Seas; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Phylogeny; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds - metabolism; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Sediments; Water Microbiology
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336; 1098-6596
• DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01264-10

Bacterial anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is an important process in the marine nitrogen cycle. Because ongoing eutrophication of coastal bays contributes significantly to the formation of low-oxygen zones, monitoring of the anammox bacterial community offers a unique opportunity for assessment of anthropogenic perturbations in these environments. The current study used targeting of 16S rRNA and hzo genes to characterize the composition and structure of the anammox bacterial community in the sediments of the eutrophic Jiaozhou Bay, thereby unraveling their diversity, abundance, and distribution. Abundance and distribution of hzo genes revealed a greater taxonomic diversity in Jiaozhou Bay, including several novel clades of anammox bacteria. In contrast, the targeting of 16S rRNA genes verified the presence of only "Candidatus Scalindua," albeit with a high microdiversity. The genus "Ca. Scalindua" comprised the apparent majority of active sediment anammox bacteria. Multivariate statistical analyses indicated a heterogeneous distribution of the anammox bacterial assemblages in Jiaozhou Bay. Of all environmental parameters investigated, sediment organic C/organic N (OrgC/OrgN), nitrite concentration, and sediment median grain size were found to impact the composition, structure, and distribution of the sediment anammox bacterial community. Analysis of Pearson correlations between environmental factors and abundance of 16S rRNA and hzo genes as determined by fluorescent real-time PCR suggests that the local nitrite concentration is the key regulator of the abundance of anammox bacteria in Jiaozhou Bay sediments.