Changes in Diversity and Abundance of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria along a Glacier Retreating Chronosequence in the Tianshan Mountains, China

Xiukun Wu; Wei Zhang; Guangxiu Liu; Tuo Chen; Zhongqin Li

doi:10.3390/microorganisms11122871

Changes in Diversity and Abundance of Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea and Bacteria along a Glacier Retreating Chronosequence in the Tianshan Mountains, China

Microorganisms. 2023 Nov 27;11(12):2871. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11122871.

Authors

Xiukun Wu^{1

2}, Wei Zhang^{1

2}, Guangxiu Liu^{1

2}, Tuo Chen^{2

3}, Zhongqin Li³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
² Key Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Microbial Resources and Engineering, Lanzhou 730000, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.

Abstract

Glaciers retreating due to global warming create important new habitats, particularly suitable for studying ecosystem development where nitrogen is a limiting factor. Nitrogen availability mainly results from microbial decomposition and transformation processes, including nitrification. AOA and AOB perform the first and rate-limiting step of nitrification. Investigating the abundance and diversity of AOA and AOB is essential for understanding early ecosystem development. The dynamics of AOA and AOB community structure along a soil chronosequence in Tianshan No. 1 Glacier foreland were analyzed using qPCR and clone library methods. The results consistently showed low quantities of both AOA and AOB throughout the chronosequence. Initially, the copy numbers of AOB were higher than those of AOA, but they decreased in later stages. The AOB community was dominated by "Nitrosospira cluster ME", while the AOA community was dominated by "the soil and sediment 1". Both communities were potentially connected to supra- and subglacial microbial communities during early stages. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the ratios of AOA and AOB with soil ammonium and total nitrogen levels. These results suggest that variations in abundance and diversity of AOA and AOB along the chronosequences were influenced by ammonium availability during glacier retreat.

Keywords: AOA and AOB; Tianshan No. 1 Glacier; chronosequence; community structure; glacier foreland.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31500429) and the Science and Technology Projects in Gansu Province, Grant No. 22JR5RA078.