Comammox Nitrospira within the Yangtze River continuum: community, biogeography, and ecological drivers

Abstract

The recent discovery of comammox Nitrospira as complete nitrifiers has fundamentally renewed perceptions of nitrogen cycling in natural and engineered systems, yet little is known about the environmental controls on these newly recognized bacteria. Based on improved phylogenetic resolution through successful assembly of ten novel genomes (71–96% completeness), we provided the first biogeographic patterns for planktonic and benthic comammox Nitrospira in the Yangtze River over a 6030 km continuum. Our study revealed the widespread distributions and relative abundance of comammox Nitrospira in this large freshwater system, constituting 30 and 46% of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes (AOPs) and displaying 30.4- and 17.9-fold greater abundances than canonical Nitrospira representatives in water and sediments, respectively. Comammox Nitrospira contributed more to nitrifier abundances (34–87% of AOPs) in typical oligotrophic environments with a higher pH and lower temperature, particularly in the plateau (clade B), mountain and foothill (clade A) areas of the upper reach. The dominant position of planktonic comammox Nitrospira was replaced by canonical Nitrospira sublineages I/II and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria from the plateau to downstream plain due to environmental selection, while the dissimilarity of benthic comammox Nitrospira was moderately associated with geographic distance. A substantial decrease (83%) in benthic comammox Nitrospira abundance occurred immediately downstream of the Three Gorges Dam, consistent with a similarly considerable decrease in overall sediment bacterial taxa. Together, this study highlights the previously unrecognized dominance of comammox Nitrospira in major river systems and underlines the importance of revisiting the distributions of and controls on nitrification processes within global freshwater environments.