Different behaviour of methanogenic archaea and Thaumarchaeota in rice field microcosms. Issue 1 (28th August 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ke, Xiubin; Lu, Yahai; Conrad, Ralf
• Is Part Of: FEMS microbiology ecology. Volume 87:Issue 1(2014)
• Page Start: 18
• Page End: 29
• Publication Date: 2013-08-28
• Subjects: Microbial ecology -- Periodicals; Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579.17
• DOI: 10.1111/1574-6941.12188
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0168-6496

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="fem12188-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p> <italic>Archaea</italic> in rice fields play an important role in carbon and nitrogen cycling. They comprise methane‐producing <italic>Euryarchaeota</italic> as well as ammonia‐oxidizing <italic>Thaumarchaeota</italic>, but their community structures and population dynamics have not yet been studied in the same system. Different soil compartments (surface, bulk, rhizospheric soil) and ages of roots (young and old roots) at two N fertilization levels and at three time points (the panicle initiation, heading and maturity periods) of the season were assayed by determining the abundance (using qPCR) and composition (using T‐RFLP and cloning/sequencing) of archaeal genes (<italic>mcrA</italic>, <italic> amoA</italic>, 16S rRNA gene). The community of total <italic>Archaea</italic> in soil and root samples mainly consisted of the methanogens and the <italic>Thaumarchaeota</italic> and their abundance increased over the season. Methanogens proliferated everywhere, but <italic>Thaumarchaeota</italic> proliferated only on the roots and in response to nitrogen fertilization. The community structures of <italic>Archaea</italic>, methanogens and <italic>Thaumarchaeota</italic> were different in soil and root samples indicating niche differentiation. While <italic>Methanobacteriales</italic> were generally present, <italic>Methanosarcinaceae</italic> and <italic>Methanocellales</italic> were the dominant methanogens in soil and root samples, respectively. The results emphasize the specific colonization of roots by two ecophysiologically different groups of archaea which may belong to the core root biome.</p> </abstract>