Open AccessDeep‐sea methane seep sediments in the O khotsk S ea sustain diverse and abundant anammox bacteria
Author(s) -
Shao Sudong,
Luan Xiwu,
Dang Hongyue,
Zhou Haixia,
Zhao Yakun,
Liu Haitao,
Zhang Yunbo,
Dai Lingqing,
Ye Ying,
Klotz Martin G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
fems microbiology ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.377
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1574-6941
pISSN - 0168-6496
DOI - 10.1111/1574-6941.12241
Subject(s) - anammox , cold seep , chemosynthesis , biology , petroleum seep , sediment , anoxic waters , environmental chemistry , deep sea , biogeochemical cycle , anaerobic oxidation of methane , microbial population biology , methane , ecology , oceanography , hydrothermal vent , denitrifying bacteria , denitrification , bacteria , geology , nitrogen , fishery , hydrothermal circulation , chemistry , paleontology , organic chemistry
Marginal sea methane seep sediments sustain highly productive chemosynthetic ecosystems and are hotspots of intense biogeochemical cycling. Rich methane supply stimulates rapid microbial consumption of oxygen; these systems are thus usually hypoxic to anoxic. This and reported evidence for resident nitrogen fixation suggest the presence of an anaerobic ammonium‐oxidizing (anammox) bacterial community in methane seep sediments. To test this hypothesis, we employed detection of genes encoding 16 S r RNA gene and hydrazine dehydrogenase ( hzo ) to investigate the structure, abundance and distribution of the anammox bacterial community in the methane seep sediments of the O khotsk S ea. Diverse complements of C andidatus Scalindua‐related 16 S r RNA and hzo gene sequences were obtained. Most of the deep‐sea sites harbored abundant hzo genes with copy numbers as high as 10 7 g −1 sediment. In general, anammox bacterial signatures were significantly more abundant in the deep‐water sediments. Sediment porewater NO 3 − , NO x − (i.e. NO 3 − + NO 2 − ), NO x − / NH 4 + and sediment silt content correlated with in situ distribution patterns of anammox bacterial marker genes, likely because they determine anammox substrate availability and sediment geochemistry, respectively. The abundance and distribution of anammox bacterial gene markers indicate a potentially significant contribution of anammox bacteria to the marine N cycle in the deep‐sea methane seep sediments.