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Distribution and Diversity of Archaeal Ammonia Monooxygenase Genes Associated with Corals ^,

J.Michael Beman,^1, Kathryn J. Roberts,^1, Linda Wegley,² Forest Rohwer,² and Christopher A. Francis^1*

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305,¹ Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182²

Received 28 February 2007/ Accepted 18 June 2007

Corals are known to harbor diverse microbial communities of Bacteria and Archaea, yet the ecological role of these microorganisms remains largely unknown. Here we report putative ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (amoA) genes of archaeal origin associated with corals. Multiple DNA samples drawn from nine coral species and four different reef locations were PCR screened for archaeal and bacterial amoA genes, and archaeal amoA gene sequences were obtained from five different species of coral collected in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The 210 coral-associated archaeal amoA sequences recovered in this study were broadly distributed phylogenetically, with most only distantly related to previously reported sequences from coastal/estuarine sediments and oceanic water columns. In contrast, the bacterial amoA gene could not be amplified from any of these samples. These results offer further evidence for the widespread presence of the archaeal amoA gene in marine ecosystems, including coral reefs.

Published ahead of print on 22 June 2007.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089.

Present address: Ocean Sciences Department, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064.

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