Abundance and diversity based on amoA genes of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in ten wastewater treatment systems

The abundance and diversity of amoA genes of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) were investigated in ten wastewater treatment systems (WTSs) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cloning, sequencing, and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The ten WTSs included four full-scale municipal WTSs, three full-scale industrial WTSs, and three lab-scale WTSs. AOB were present in all the WTSs, whereas AOA were detected in nine WTSs. QPCR data showed that AOB amoA genes (4.625?×?10⁴–9.99?×?10⁹ copies g^?1 sludge) outnumbered AOA amoA genes (<limit of detection–1.90?×?10⁷ copies g^?1 sludge) in each WTS, indicating that AOB may play an important role than AOA in ammonia oxidization in WTSs. Interestingly, it was found that AOA and AOB coexisted with anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) bacteria in three anammox WTSs with relatively higher abundance. In a full-scale industrial WTS where effluent ammonia was higher than influent ammonia, both AOA and AOB showed higher abundance. The phylogenetic analysis of AOB amoA genes showed that genera Nitrosomonas was the most dominant species in the ten WTSs; Nitrosomonas europaea cluster was the dominant major cluster, followed by Nitrosomonas-like cluster and Nitrosomonas oligotropha cluster; and AOB species showed higher diversity than AOA species. AOA were found to be affiliated with two major clusters: Nitrososphaera cluster and Nitrosopumilus cluster. Nitrososphaera cluster was the most dominant species in different samples and distributed worldwide.