Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026

Visualizing Methane-Cycling Microbial Dynamics in Coastal Wetlands
Published on: January 31, 2025
Diversity, abundance, and activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in Chongming eastern intertidal
Yanling Zheng1, Lijun Hou, Min Liu
1State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China.
Abstract:
Ammonia oxidation plays a pivotal role in the cycling and removal of nitrogen in aquatic sediments. Certain bacterial groups and a novel group of archaea, which is affiliated with the novel phylum Thaumarchaeota, can perform this initial nitrification step. We examined the diversity and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing β-Proteobacteria (β-AOB) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in the sediments of Chongming eastern tidal flat using the ammonia monooxygenase-α subunit (amoA) gene as functional markers. Clone library analysis showed that AOA had a higher diversity of amoA gene than β-AOB. The β-Proteobacterial amoA community composition correlated significantly with water soluble salts in the sediments, whereas the archaeal amoA community composition was correlated more with nitrate concentrations. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) results indicated that the abundance of β-AOB amoA gene (9.11 × 10(4)-6.47 × 10(5) copies g(-1) sediment) was always greater than that of AOA amoA gene (7.98 × 10(3)-3.51 × 10(5) copies g(-1) sediment) in all the samples analyzed in this study. The β-Proteobacterial amoA gene abundance was closely related to organic carbon, while no significant correlations were observed between archaeal amoA gene abundance and the environmental factors. Potential nitrification rates were significantly greater in summer than in winter and correlated strongly with the abundance of amoA genes. Additionally, a greater contribution of single amoA gene to potential nitrification occurred in summer (1.03-5.39 pmol N copy(-1) day(-1)) compared with winter (0.16-0.38 pmol N copy(-1) day(-1)), suggesting a higher activity of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in warm seasons.
More Related Videos
07:31Agarose-Based Model Ecosystem for Cultivating Methanotrophs in a Methane-Oxygen Counter Gradient
Published on: September 6, 2024
08:05Measurement of the Potential Rates of Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction to Ammonium Based on 14NH4+/15NH4+ Analyses via Sequential Conversion to N2O
Published on: October 7, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Marine Microbial Ecology
Deep Sea Microbial Ecology
Metabolism of Chemolithotrophs
Diversity of Archaea III
Diversity of Archaea II
Diversity of Archaea I