Candidatus Nitrosopolaris, a genus of putative ammonia-oxidizing archaea with a polar/alpine distribution

Last updated on 8 August 2022

Our study "Candidatus Nitrosopolaris, a genus of putative ammonia-oxidizing archaea with a polar/alpine distribution" is now published in FEMS Microbes. You can find it here.

In this study, we applied a genome-resolved approach to metagenomic data obtained from tundra soils in Rásttigáisá, Norway. Among others, we recovered four MAGs assigned to the genus “UBA10452”, an uncultured lineage in the order Nitrososphaerales (“terrestrial group I.1b”), phylum Thaumarchaeota. In addition to our four MAGs, there are other eight UBA10452 MAGs in GenBank. All originate from cold soils (tundra, permafrost, and polar desert).

Phylogenomics showed that the UBA10452 MAGs form a new lineage in the family Nitrososphaeraceae. This is also supported by AAI and the 16S rRNA gene. We propose to rename the UBA10452 lineage as Candidatus Nitrosopolaris (nitrosus: nitrous; polaris: of the poles).

All data and code used in this study can be found here.

A behind-the-paper interview about this work has been published in #FEMSmicroBlog. You can check it out here.