Distribution of Bathyarchaeota Communities Across Different Terrestrial Settings and Their Potential Ecological Functions

Abstract

High abundance and widespread distribution of the archaeal phylum Bathyarchaeota in marine environment have been recognized recently, but knowledge about Bathyarchaeota in terrestrial settings and their correlation with environmental parameters is fairly limited. Here we reported the abundance of Bathyarchaeota members across different ecosystems and their correlation with environmental factors by constructing 16S rRNA clone libraries of peat from the Dajiuhu Peatland, coupling with bioinformatics analysis of 16S rRNA data available to date in NCBI database. In total, 1456 Bathyarchaeota sequences from 28 sites were subjected to UniFrac analysis based on phylogenetic distance and multivariate regression tree analysis of taxonomy. Both phylogenetic and taxon-based approaches showed that salinity, total organic carbon and temperature significantly influenced the distribution of Bathyarchaeota across different terrestrial habitats. By applying the ecological concept of ‘indicator species’, we identify 9 indicator groups among the 6 habitats with the most in the estuary sediments. Network analysis showed that members of Bathyarchaeota formed the “backbone” of archaeal community and often co-occurred with Methanomicrobia. These results suggest that Bathyarchaeota may play an important ecological role within archaeal communities via a potential symbiotic association with Methanomicrobia. Our results shed light on understanding of the biogeography, potential functions of Bathyarchaeota and environment conditions that influence Bathyarchaea distribution in terrestrial settings.

Bacterial and Archaeal Assemblages from Two Size Fractions in Submarine Groundwater Near an Industrial Zone

“…Acetate is an important organic substrate for the growth and methane production of acetoclastic Methanosaeta [57]. Meanwhile, a gene encoding acetate kinase of Bathyarchaeota could also be involved in acetate production [55,56]. In this study, the co-occurrence of sequences belonging to Bathyarchaeota and the genus Methanosaeta was found in the >0.45 µm size fraction, indicating possible acetate production by members of Bathyarchaeota in SPM.…”

“…Therefore, we speculate that these two groups prefer living in the >0.45 µm size fraction. Meanwhile, these processes of Bathyarchaeota and Methanosaeta not only could indicate the existence of a syntrophic association between these two groups, but also may explain the mechanism of symbiosis between Bathyarchaeota and Methanosaeta [56].…”

“…In addition, the BA1 and BA2 genomes of Bathyarchaeota contain divergent homologs of the genes necessary for methane metabolism obtained from metagenomic analysis [51]. Bathyarchaeota may play an important ecological role via a potential symbiotic association with Methanosaeta [56]. Acetate is an important organic substrate for the growth and methane production of acetoclastic Methanosaeta [57].…”

“…The Methanosaeta and Limnohabitans spp. could consume acetate produced by Bathyarchaeota fermentation and then generate CH 4 and CO 2 , respectively ( [36,56,57]. Meanwhile, the Limnohabitans spp.…”

Methanogens and Methanotrophs Show Nutrient-Dependent Community Assemblage Patterns Across Tropical Peatlands of the Pastaza-Marañón Basin, Peruvian Amazonia

“…Unique to this study was to note relatively high abundances of Bathyarchaeota (up to 8% in the mixed) and Thaumarchaeota (up to 5% in the ombrotrophic peats). As the Bathyarchaeota have only recently been reclassified and incorporated into 16S rRNA gene reference databases, their distribution in terrestrial environments is still not yet fully accounted, but appear to dominate Archaeal communities in some peat, freshwater wetland and mangrove sediments (Xiang et al, 2017). In the comparison to reads from a Northern peatland site incorporated here, Bathyarchaeota were detectable at a mean relative abundance of 0.006%, suggesting a preference for tropical peatlands.…”