Diversity, Physiology, and Niche Differentiation of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea
- Creators
- Hatzenpichler, Roland
Abstract
Nitrification, the aerobic oxidation of ammonia to nitrate via nitrite, has been suggested to have been a central part of the global biogeochemical nitrogen cycle since the oxygenation of Earth. The cultivation of several ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) as well as the discovery that archaeal ammonia monooxygenase (amo)-like gene sequences are nearly ubiquitously distributed in the environment and outnumber their bacterial counterparts in many habitats fundamentally revised our understanding of nitrification. Surprising insights into the physiological distinctiveness of AOA are mirrored by the recognition of the phylogenetic uniqueness of these microbes, which fall within a novel archaeal phylum now known as Thaumarchaeota. The relative importance of AOA in nitrification, compared to ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), is still under debate. This minireview provides a synopsis of our current knowledge of the diversity and physiology of AOA, the factors controlling their ecology, and their role in carbon cycling as well as their potential involvement in the production of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. It emphasizes the importance of activity-based analyses in AOA studies and formulates priorities for future research.
Additional Information
© 2012 American Society for Microbiology. The author has paid a fee to allow immediate free access to this article. Published ahead of print 24 August 2012. I am thankful to Anne Dekas, Jennifer Glass, Martin Klotz, Shawn McGlynn, Victoria Orphan, and Patricia Tavormina for discussions and proofreading. The input by three anonymous reviewers strongly improved the manuscript. I am deeply indebted to Michael Wagner and Christa Schleper, as well as Holger Daims, Elena Lebedeva, Pierre Offre, Victoria Orphan, Thomas Rattei, Anja Spang, and Eva Spieck, for their support, collaboration, and stimulating discussions. Thanks to Christopher Francis, Annika Mosier,and Jose de la Torre for sharing unpublished data. I apologize to all authors whose work could not be discussed due to page limits. This work was supported by the California Institute of Technology Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences O. K. Earl Postdoctoral Scholarship in Geobiology and an Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), J 3162-B20.Attached Files
Published - Appl._Environ._Microbiol.-2012-Hatzenpichler-7501-10.pdf
Supplemental Material - zam999103791so1.pdf
Supplemental Material - zam999103791so2.pdf
Supplemental Material - zam999103791so3.pdf
Files
Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC3485721
- Eprint ID
- 35484
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20121115-103011773
- O. K. Earl Postdoctoral Fellowship
- J 3162-B20
- FWF Der Wissenschaftsfonds
- Created
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2012-11-15Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field