Oxygen preference of deeply-rooted mesophilic thaumarchaeota in forest soil

Eva Biggs-Weber, Axel Aigle, James I. Prosser, Cécile Gubry-Rangin* (Corresponding Author)

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Soil microorganisms require metabolic strategies to cope with the significant variations in oxygen availability that occur in soil over a range of time scales. Characterised ammonia-oxidisers within Thaumarchaeota Groups 1.1a and 1.1b are aerobic, but the oxygen preference and metabolic potential of deeply-rooted Thaumarchaeota remain unknown, with several studies providing evidence for both aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms. This study therefore aimed to determine the influence of oxygen on the mesophilic Group 1.1c and Group 1.3 thaumarchaeotal community in controlled microcosm experiments conducted using oxic and anoxic Scottish pine forest soils, incubated under oxic or anoxic conditions. While we expected more anaerobic growth metabolism in those peatland soils, we demonstrated growth of multiple aerobic clusters within Group 1.1c Thaumarchaeota and anaerobic growth within Group 1.3 Thaumarchaeota. These findings extend our understanding of the physiology of deeply-rooted mesophilic Thaumarchaeota and provide the first detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment of their growth in soil.
Original languageEnglish
Article number107848
Number of pages8
JournalSoil Biology and Biochemistry
Volume148
Early online date23 May 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2020

Bibliographical note

The Illumina sequencing was performed in the Centre for Genome-Enabled Biology and Medicine (CGEBM) (University of Aberdeen, UK). We would like to thank Noémie Hauss for her help with the sampling and incubations, the Erasmus program for supporting Noémie Hauss and Dr Tony Travis for his support on Linux. EBW was supported by a PhD studentship from the University of Aberdeen, by a Natural Environmental Research Council grant (NE/L006286/1) and CGR by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (UF150571).

Keywords

  • Thaumarchaeota
  • Dormancy
  • Anaerobic
  • Aerobic
  • Growth

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