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Distribution and Community Composition of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria in Coastal Sediments in Response to Sediment Material Gradients at Sendai Bay, Japan

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Marine Metagenomics

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Abstract

To examine how ammonia-oxidizing organisms in coastal sediments are affected by environmental changes, the distributions of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were determined along an environmental gradient from the coastal mud to the offshore coarse sand at Sendai Bay, Japan. Sediment samples were collected in December 2011 and July 2012. The abundance of AOA ammonia monooxygenase alpha subunit gene (amoA) was high in the coastal muddy areas and low in the offshore sandy areas during both months. There was a strong positive correlation between AOA-amoA abundance and ammonia content in the sediment. AOB-amoA abundance was remarkably low in the muddy sediments in December. However, the distribution of AOB-amoA was similar to that of AOA-amoA in July. Clone library analysis indicated that the community composition for both types of organisms differed in sandy and muddy sediments and that the diversity was considerably lower in the muddy sediments during both months. These results suggest that the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing organisms was controlled by the ammonia levels in the sediment. However, there are some inhibitive conditions for AOB: presumably, the low organic matter supply to the surface oxic layer during autumn in the muddy sediment in Sendai Bay.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the crew of the R.V. Wakataka-Maru for their support during the cruise and Dr. Hajime Saito of Fisheries Research Agency for the sediment material analysis. This study was funded by the Fisheries Agency of Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.

Conflict of Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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  1. Tomoko Sakami

    Present address: National Research Institute of Aquaculture, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Minami-ise, Mie, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Shiogama, Miyagi, Japan

    Tomoko Sakami & Shigeho Kakehi

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  1. Tomoko Sakami
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  2. Shigeho Kakehi
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Correspondence to Tomoko Sakami .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Takashi Gojobori

  2. Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (Retired), Yokohama, Japan

    Tokio Wada

  3. Kitasato University School of Marine Biosciences, Sagamihara, Japan

    Takanori Kobayashi

  4. Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Katsuhiko Mineta

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Sakami, T., Kakehi, S. (2019). Distribution and Community Composition of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria in Coastal Sediments in Response to Sediment Material Gradients at Sendai Bay, Japan. In: Gojobori, T., Wada, T., Kobayashi, T., Mineta, K. (eds) Marine Metagenomics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8134-8_11

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