Co-occurence of Crenarchaeota, Thermoplasmata and methanogens in anaerobic sludge digesters

16S rRNA Crenarchaeota and Thermoplasmata sequences retrieved from 22 anaerobic digesters were analysed. 4.8 and 0.53 % of archaeal sequences were simultaneously affiliated to these lineages. A core of 2 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) representing 0.6 to -33.6 % of all archaeal sequences were defined for the Crenarchaeotes and identified to already known but not yet cultivable organisms in almost half of the digesters sampled. For the Thermoplasmata, apparently less abundant with 0.7 to -4.7 % of the archaeal sequences, 3 OTUs were identified. We showed here that Crenarchaeotes coexist with methanogens and are particularly abundant when Arch I lineage (also called WSA2 by Hugenholtz) is dominant in digesters. Moreover, Thermoplasmata were detected when Crenarchaeota were present. Interactions between methanogens, Crenarchaeotea and Thermoplamata were thus discussed.