Nitrate Consumers in Arctic Marine Eukaryotic Communities: Comparative Diversities of 18S rRNA, 18S rRNA Genes, and Nitrate Reductase Genes

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology
• Main Authors: Comeau, André M., Lagunas, Marcos G., Scarcella, Karen, Varela, Diana E., Lovejoy, Connie
• Other Authors: Stams, Alfons J. M., Gouvernement du Canada | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologies, University of Victoria
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Phytoplankton
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.00247-19; https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/AEM.00247-19

To better understand the diversity of primary producers in the Arctic Ocean, we targeted a nitrogen cycle gene, NR, which is required for phytoplankton to assimilate nitrate into organic forms of nitrogen macromolecules. We compared this to the more detailed taxonomy from ice-influenced stations using a general taxonomic gene (18S rRNA). NR genes were ubiquitous and could be classified as belonging to diatoms, dinoflagellates, other flagellates, chlorophytes, and unknown microbial eukaryotes, suggesting novel diversity of both species and metabolism in arctic phytoplankton.