Temporal and spatial coexistence of archaeal and bacterial amoA genes and gene transcripts in Lake Lucerne.

Despite their crucial role in the nitrogen cycle, freshwater ecosystems are relatively rarely studied for active ammonia oxidizers (AO). This study of Lake Lucerne determined the abundance of both amoA genes and gene transcripts of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) over a period of 16 months, shedding more light on the role of both AO in a deep, alpine lake environment. At the surface, at 42 m water depth, and in the water layer immediately above the sediment, AOA generally outnumbered AOB.

Seasonal and vertical distribution of putative ammonia-oxidizing thaumarchaeotal communities in an oligotrophic lake.

The discovery of Archaea carrying an amoA gene coding for the A-subunit of ammonia monooxygenase gave a boost to studies aimed at detecting this gene under diverse conditions. Despite numerous studies describing the archaeal amoA gene abundance and richness in different habitats, the understanding of the freshwater ecology of potentially archaeal ammonia oxidizers, recently positioned in the phylum Thaumarchaeota, is still lacking. In a seasonal and vertical study of deep oligotrophic Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, with high Thaumarchaeota-specific crenarchaeol concentrations, we showed that all archaeal 16S rRNA genes found belong to the thaumarchaeotal phylum.

A nested PCR approach for improved recovery of archaeal 16S rRNA gene fragments from freshwater samples.

In a survey on the presence of archaea in a number of European lakes, it was found that known archaeal primer sets for PCR were not suited for use in freshwater environment, as some lack selectivity, while others were too selective. A nested PCR was developed for denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) with primer sets 21F-958R and Parch519f-Arch915r, respectively. After sequencing of the DGGE bands obtained by this nested method, 93% of the sequences were of archaeal origin.