Metagenomics Based Study on Community Characteristics of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Acid Forest Soil
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State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture(No. KF2017-02)and the National Science Foundation of China(No. 41977056,41671252)

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    Abstract:

    [Objective] The acidic forest soils are characterized by low pH and depletion of NH3 substrate, which are considered to be the major factors shaping ammonia-oxidizing communities (AOA, AOB and comammox) in soils. However, so far little is known about the relationship between absolute and relative numbers of the three kinds of ammonia oxidizers in acidic forest soils, especially due to the absence of reliable real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) primers for the newly identified comammox Nitrospira. Here this study aims to develop a strategy to determine abundance of comammox Nitrospira, and to investigate community structures of AOA, AOB and comammox in the acidic forest soils. [Method] Absolute abundances of amoA genes of AOA, AOB and comammox in soils were measured with the aid of qPCR. However, Ntsp-amoA-162F/359R and comaB-244F/659R, the two primers for comammox amoA genes would trigger significant non-specific amplification, and hence overestimation of the abundance of comammox. Therefore, qPCR data of comammox amoA genes needs to be calibrated with the semi-quantitative method based on agarose gel electrophoresis of the qPCR products, and by the metagenomic sequencing of the total soil DNA. Furthermore, community compositions of AOA, AOB and comammox in the acidic forest soils were also characterized with the aid of metagenomic sequencing. [Result] The qPCR demonstrate that the amoA genes of AOA and AOB were 2.61×106 and 1.45×106 copies·g-1, respectively in abundance, while the qPCR of comammox amoA gene exhibits significant non-specific amplification, and the calibrated data show that comammox amoA gene, was about 1.38×106 ~1.47×106 copies·g-1 in abundance. Furthermore, Group 1.1b was the predominant one, accounting for ~88.07% of AOA, while the classical 1.1a-associated acidophilic group accounted only for ~11.93%. Of AOB, Nitrosospira was the major group, accounting for ~63.96%, while Nitrosomonas made up ~36.04% of the total AOB gene sequence. Clade B was the major group, accounting for ~63.39% of the comammox, while Clade A accounted only for ~36.61% of total comammox amoA gene sequence and exclusively fell into Sub-clade A.1. [Conclusion] In this study, a strategy for determining the absolute abundance of comammox amoA genes in soil was developed based on comprehensive utilization of the techniques of qPCR, semi-quantitation and metagenomic analysis. In the acidic forest soils studied the ratio of comammox to AOA and AOB in amoA gene abundance is found to be ~0.55 and ~0.98, respectively. Group 1.1b, Nitrosospira and Clade B is the major group of AOA, AOB and comammox, respectively, in the soils, and the potential molecular mechanisms underpinning the adaption of these ammonia oxidizers to the environments low in pH and short of NH3 substrates warrant further physio-biochemical studies of pure cultures.

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TANG Xiufeng, QIN Hua, KUANG Lu, WANG Xinxin, SONG Yuxiang, GAO Hao, LIU Linmeng, REN Yi, SHAN Jun, ZHANG Huanchao, WANG Baozhan. Metagenomics Based Study on Community Characteristics of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Acid Forest Soil[J]. Acta Pedologica Sinica,2021,58(5):1311-1321.

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History
  • Received:February 02,2020
  • Revised:April 08,2020
  • Adopted:May 12,2020
  • Online: December 31,2020
  • Published: September 11,2021