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Environmental controls on intragroup diversity of the uncultured benthic archaea of the miscellaneous C renarchaeotal group lineage naturally enriched in anoxic sediments of the W hite O ak R iver estuary ( N orth C arolina, USA )
Author(s) -
Lazar Cassandre Sara,
Biddle Jennifer F.,
Meador Travis B.,
Blair Nic,
Hinrichs KaiUwe,
Teske Andreas P.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.12659
Subject(s) - estuary , biology , sediment , benthic zone , archaea , lineage (genetic) , polychaete , biogeochemical cycle , group (periodic table) , anoxic waters , ecology , zoology , paleontology , gene , bacteria , biochemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry
Summary Sediments of the W hite O ak R iver ( WOR ) estuary are situated on the coast of N orth C arolina harbour, one of the most diverse known populations of uncultured A rchaea , specifically the miscellaneous C renarchaeotal group ( MCG ). In order to constrain the environmental factors influencing the uncultured archaeal groups in the WOR estuary, biogeochemical profiles as well as archaeal 16 S rRNA genes from sediment pushcores were analysed. The relative fraction of MCG A rchaea in clone libraries decreased at shallow sediment depths (27% of the total MCG ). A LINKTREE analysis of the MCG intragroup diversity reinforced the observation that the MCG subgroup 6 was found predominantly within sulfide‐depleted shallow sediment layers; other subgroups (especially MCG ‐1 and MCG ‐5/8) occurred preferentially in deeper, more strongly reducing sediment layers. The available evidence from this study and published MCG distribution patterns indicates that the MCG ‐6 subgroup is a specialized MCG lineage that, in contrast to other MCG subgroups, prefers suboxic sediment horizons with minimal or no free sulfide. Collectively, our results reveal the habitat preferences of different MCG subgroups in the WOR sediments and suggest that physiological adaptations to distinct sedimentary geochemical niches evolved in different MCG subgroups.