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Nitrifier Gene Abundance and Diversity in Sediments Impacted by Acid Mine Drainage

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Microbiology, November 2017
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (76th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (70th percentile)

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Title
Nitrifier Gene Abundance and Diversity in Sediments Impacted by Acid Mine Drainage
Published in
Frontiers in Microbiology, November 2017
DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02136
Pubmed ID
Authors

Bhargavi Ramanathan, Andrew M. Boddicker, Timberley M. Roane, Annika C. Mosier

Abstract

Extremely acidic and metal-rich acid mine drainage (AMD) waters can have severe toxicological effects on aquatic ecosystems. AMD has been shown to completely halt nitrification, which plays an important role in transferring nitrogen to higher organisms and in mitigating nitrogen pollution. We evaluated the gene abundance and diversity of nitrifying microbes in AMD-impacted sediments: ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Samples were collected from the Iron Springs Mining District (Ophir, CO, United States) during early and late summer in 2013 and 2014. Many of the sites were characterized by low pH (<5) and high metal concentrations. Sequence analyses revealed AOA genes related to Nitrososphaera, Nitrosotalea, and Nitrosoarchaeum; AOB genes related to Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira; and NOB genes related to Nitrospira. The overall abundance of AOA, AOB and NOB was examined using quantitative PCR (qPCR) amplification of the amoA and nxrB functional genes and 16S rRNA genes. Gene copy numbers ranged from 3.2 × 104 - 4.9 × 107 archaeal amoA copies ∗ μg DNA-1, 1.5 × 103 - 5.3 × 105 AOB 16S rRNA copies ∗ μg DNA-1, and 1.3 × 106 - 7.7 × 107Nitrospira nxrB copies ∗ μg DNA-1. Overall, Nitrospira nxrB genes were found to be more abundant than AOB 16S rRNA and archaeal amoA genes in most of the sample sites across 2013 and 2014. AOB 16S rRNA and Nitrospira nxrB genes were quantified in sediments with pH as low as 3.2, and AOA amoA genes were quantified in sediments as low as 3.5. Though pH varied across all sites (pH 3.2-8.3), pH was not strongly correlated to the overall community structure or relative abundance of individual OTUs for any gene (based on CCA and Spearman correlations). pH was positivity correlated to the total abundance (qPCR) of AOB 16S rRNA genes, but not for any other genes. Metals were not correlated to the overall nitrifier community composition or abundance, but were correlated to the relative abundances of several individual OTUs. These findings extend our understanding of the distribution of nitrifying microbes in AMD-impacted systems and provide a platform for further research.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 49 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 49 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 15 31%
Researcher 7 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 14%
Student > Doctoral Student 5 10%
Other 3 6%
Other 4 8%
Unknown 8 16%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 14 29%
Environmental Science 11 22%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 12%
Engineering 3 6%
Immunology and Microbiology 1 2%
Other 3 6%
Unknown 11 22%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 December 2017.
All research outputs
#4,117,697
of 23,007,887 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Microbiology
#4,088
of 25,108 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#76,007
of 331,365 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Microbiology
#162
of 583 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,007,887 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 81st percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 25,108 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.3. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 331,365 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 583 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.