Recovery and phylogenetic analysis of archaeal rRNA sequences from continental shelf sediments.

Phylogenetic analyses of archaeal 16S rRNA genes (rDNA) from DNA extracted from continental shelf sediments revealed the presence of two major lineages, belonging to the kingdoms Crenarchaeota and Euryarchacota, respectively. Our analyses indicate that the benthic Archaea belong to a new group, divergent from the marine low-temperature planktonic Archaea. This is the first report showing the existence of Archaea, unrelated to methanogens, specifically associated with low-temperature anoxic marine sediments.