| Abstract: | Abstract The phylogenetic relationship of β-proteobacterial ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) is mainly based on comparative sequence analyses of the genes encoding the 16S rRNA (16S rDNA) and the active site polypeptide of the ammonia monooxygenase (AmoA). However, classification of AOB with different morphotypes is not possible based solely on these markers. Pyruvate kinase (PYK), which is a key enzyme in the glycolytic pathway, functions at a primary metabolic intersection. The gene sequence of PYK is known to be a phylogenetic marker for bacteria and has been used for this purpose. The phylogenetic relationships of closely related AOB, ‘Nitrosolobus’, ‘Nitrosovibrio’ and Nitrosospira, were estimated based on pyk (PYK), a housekeeping and protein-coding gene. As a result, the pyk phylogenetic tree of the AOB showed a high resolution compared with the tree based on 16S rDNA sequences. Therefore, we conclude that analysis of the PYK gene sequences could play an important role in the in-depth classification and identification of AOB at a rank below the genus level. |
