Abundance, Diversity and Community Composition of Anammox Bacteria in Sediments of the Xiangshan Bay

Xiangshan Bay (XSB) is a typical long and narrow semi closed bay in the coast of the East China Sea, and a large amount of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) flows into the bay every year. The eutrophication is becoming more and more serious because of weak water exchange capacity. Anammox plays an important role for nitrogen loss in global marine nitrogen cycle. In the present study, the community composition of anammox bacteria in the surface sediments of XSB were investigated by high-throughput sequencing based on anammox 16S rRNA and hydrazine oxidoreductase (hzo) genes. The abundances of anammox bacteria were quantified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The results showed that five known genera were detected in the sediments of XSB based on anammox 16S rRNA gene, including Ca. Scalindua, Ca. Brocadia,Ca. Kuenenia, Ca. Jettenia, and Ca. Anammoxoglobus.