Inhibition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria promotes the growth of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in ammonium-rich alkaline soils

Disparities in the substrate affinity and tolerance threshold for ammonia have been believed to play a key role in driving niche differentiation between ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB); however, recent surveys argue that direct competition between AOA and AOB is also important in this phenomenon. Accordingly, it is reasonable to predict that diverse AOA lineages would grow in ammonium (NH4+)-rich alkaline arable soils if AOB growth is suppressed. To test this hypothesis, a microcosm study was established using three different types of alkaline arable soils, in which a high NH4 concentration (200 mu g N g(-1) dry soil) was maintained by routinely replenishing urea and the activities of AOB were selectively inhibited by 1-octyne or 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP). Compared with amendment with urea alone, 1-octyne partially retarded AOB growth, while DMPP completely inhibited AOB. Both inhibitors accelerated the growth of AOA, with significantly higher ratios of abundance of AOA to AOB observed with DMPP amendment across soils. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis (NMDS) indicated that different treatments significantly altered the community structures of both AOA and AOB and AOA OTUs enriched by high-NH4+ amendment were taxonomically constrained across the soils tested and closely related to Nitrososphaera viennensis EN76 and N. garnensis. Given that these representative strains have been demonstrated to be sensitive to high ammonia concentrations, our results suggest that it is the competitiveness for ammonia, rather than disparities in substrate affinity and tolerance threshold for ammonia, that drives niche differentiation between these phylotypes and AOB in NH4+-rich alkaline soils.