AUTHOR=Sintes Eva , De Corte Daniele , Haberleitner Elisabeth , Herndl Gerhard J. TITLE=Geographic Distribution of Archaeal Ammonia Oxidizing Ecotypes in the Atlantic Ocean JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=7 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00077 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2016.00077 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
In marine ecosystems, Thaumarchaeota are most likely the major ammonia oxidizers. While ammonia concentrations vary by about two orders of magnitude in the oceanic water column, archaeal ammonia oxidizers (AOA) vary by only one order of magnitude from surface to bathypelagic waters. Thus, the question arises whether the key enzyme responsible for ammonia oxidation, ammonia monooxygenase (amo), exhibits different affinities to ammonia along the oceanic water column and consequently, whether there are different ecotypes of AOA present in the oceanic water column. We determined the abundance and phylogeny of AOA based on their