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Reverse-transcriptional gene expression of anammox and ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in soybean and rice paddy soils of Northeast China

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

The relative gene expression of hydrazine oxidoreductase encoding gene (hzo) for anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (anammox) and ammonia monooxygenase encoding gene (amoA) for both ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in Sanjiang Plain soybean and rice paddy soils of Northeast China was investigated by using real-time reverse-transcriptional quantitative PCR. Metabolically active populations of anammox, AOA, and AOB in rice paddy soils were evident by the presence and successful quantification of hzo mRNA and amoA mRNA genes. The expression ratio of amoA gene for both AOA and AOB varied between soybean soils and different rice paddy soils while the expression of hzo gene for anammox was detectable only in rice paddy soils by showing a diverse relative expression ratio in each soil sample. Gene expression of both archaeal and bacterial amoA genes in rice paddy soils differed among the three sampling depths, but that of hzo was not. Both archaeal and bacterial amoA genes showed an increase trend of expression level with continuation of rice paddy cultivation, but the low expression ratio of hzo gene indicated a relatively small contribution of anammox in overall removal of inorganic nitrogen through N2 even under anoxic and high nitrogen input in agriculture. Bacterial amoA gene from two soybean fields and three rice paddy fields were also analyzed for community composition by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis fingerprint. Community shift was observed between soybean and paddy fields and within each of them. The consistent occurrence of three bands 5, 6, and 7 in all samples showed their high adaptability for both arid cultivation and continuous rice paddy cultivation. Our data suggest that AOA and AOB are playing a more important role in nitrogen transformation in agricultural soils in oxic or anoxic environment and anammox bacteria may also contribute but in a less extent to N transformation in these agricultural soils under anoxic condition.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by a Ph.D. studentship of The University of Hong Kong (JW). We thank the help and assistance of Mr. Dehui Shi from Honghe State Farm for information about the cultivation history, land use, and sampling on site, and of Ms Zheng Chunyu of Jin Zuo Yue Company for the transportation and logistics provided during the sampling. Laboratory assistance was provided by Jessie Lai at The University of Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Marine Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Wang

  2. Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology and Toxicology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Wang & Ji-Dong Gu

  3. Geomicrobiology Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100086, People’s Republic of China

    Hailiang Dong

  4. Department of Geology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA

    Hailiang Dong

  5. College of Biological Science and Technology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, Heilongjiang, 163319, People’s Republic of China

    Weidong Wang

  6. The Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, Shek O, Cape d’Aguilar, Hong Kong, SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Ji-Dong Gu

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  1. Jing Wang
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  2. Hailiang Dong
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Correspondence to Ji-Dong Gu.

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Wang, J., Dong, H., Wang, W. et al. Reverse-transcriptional gene expression of anammox and ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in soybean and rice paddy soils of Northeast China. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 2675–2686 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5242-x

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