Santoro, Alyson E.

Abstract Ni.tro.so.pe.la'gi.cus. N.L. masc. adj. nitrosus nitrous; L. masc. adj. pelagicus of the open sea; N.L. masc. n. Nitrosopelagicus a nitrite producer of the open sea. The genus Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus is composed of marine ammonia‐oxidizing archaea, almost all of which are uncultivated. They are found in shallow waters (<200 m depth) of the oligotrophic tropical, subtropical, and temperate open oceans. A single species has been described, Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus brevis, which couples growth with the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite. One described strain ( Ca . N. brevis U25) is capable of hydrolyzing urea to supply the ammonia required for growth. Cells are obligately aerobic, small, and nonmotile rods. They grow free‐living, not associated with surfaces. No growth enhancement has been observed in the presence of organic carbon compounds; a reduction in the lag phase of growth has been observed with addition of α‐ketoacids, potentially serving as radical oxygen scavengers. Organisms are mesophilic and obligately marine. Lipid composition distinguishes Ca . Nitrosopelagicus from Nitrosopumilus using glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) distributions, with lower amounts of GDGT‐2 and higher amounts of GDGT‐0 and GDGT‐1 found in Ca . Nitrosopelagicus. Abundance of Ca . Nitrospelagicus‐like organisms is correlated with nitrification rates, suggesting that these organisms are the dominant ammonia oxidizers in epipelagic and upper mesopelagic environments of the low‐ and mid‐latitude open oceans. DNA G + C content (mol%) : 33.1. Type species : Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus brevis Santoro et al. 2015. Taxonomic and Nomenclature Notes According to the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN), the taxonomic status of the genus Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus is: preferred name (not correct name) (last update, February 2025) * . LPSN classification: Archaea / Thermoproteati / Thermoproteota / Nitrososphaeria / Nitrosopumilales / incertae sedis / Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus The genus Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus can also be recovered in the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) as g__Nitrosopelagicus (version v220) ** . GTDB classification: d__Archaea / p__Thermoproteota / c__Nitrososphaeria / o__Nitrososphaerales / f__Nitrosopumilaceae / g__Nitrosopelagicus * Meier‐Kolthoff et al. ( 2022 ). Nucleic Acids Res , 50 , D801 – D807 ; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab902 ** Parks et al. ( 2022 ). Nucleic Acids Res , 50 , D785 – D794 ; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab776

Significance Thaumarchaeota are among the most abundant microbial cells in the ocean, but to date, complete genome sequences for marine Thaumarchaeota are lacking. Here, we report the 1.23-Mbp genome of the pelagic ammonia-oxidizing thaumarchaeon “ Candidatus Nitrosopelagicus brevis” str. CN25. We present the first proteomic data, to our knowledge, from this phylum, which show a high proportion of proteins translated in oligotrophic conditions. Metagenomic fragment recruitment using data from the open ocean indicate the ubiquitous presence of Ca. N. brevis-like sequences in the surface ocean and suggest Ca . N. brevis as a model system for understanding the ecology and evolution of pelagic marine Thaumarchaeota.