Temperature Responses of Ammonia-Oxidizing Prokaryotes in Freshwater Sediment Microcosms

In order to investigate the effects of temperature on the abundances and community compositions of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB), lake microcosms were constructed and incubated at 15°C, 25°C and 35°C for 40 days, respectively. Temperature exhibited different effects on the abundance and diversity of archaeal and bacterial amoA gene. The elevated temperature increased the abundance of archaeal amoA gene, whereas the abundance of bacterial amoA gene decreased. The highest diversity of bacterial amoA gene was found in the 25°C treatment sample. However, the 25°C treatment sample maintained the lowest diversity of archaeal amoA gene. Most of the archaeal amoA sequences obtained in this study affiliated with the Nitrosopumilus cluster. Two sequences obtained from the 15°C treatment samples were affiliated with the Nitrosotalea cluster. N. oligotropha lineage was the most dominant bacterial amoA gene group. Several sequences affiliated to Nitrosospira and undefined N. europaea/NC. mobilis like lineage were found in the pre-incubation and 25°C treatment groups.