Cyclic Conversions in the Nitrogen Cycle

Cyclic Conversions in the Nitrogen Cycle

Kleerebezem, R. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology)
Lücker, Sebastian (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen)

2021

The cyclic nature of specific conversions in the nitrogen cycle imposes strict limitations to the conversions observed in nature and explains for example why anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria can only use nitrite – and not nitrate – as electron acceptor in catabolism, and why nitrite is required as additional electron donor for inorganic carbon fixation in anabolism. Furthermore, the biochemistry involved in nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation excludes the feasibility of using nitrate as electron acceptor. Based on the cyclic nature of these nitrogen conversions, we propose two scenarios that may explain the ecological role of recently discovered complete ammonia-oxidizing (comammox) Nitrospira spp., some of which were initially found in a strongly oxygen limited environment: (i) comammox Nitrospira spp. may actually catalyze an anammox-like metabolism using a biochemistry similar to intra-oxic nitrite-dependent methane oxidation, or (ii) scavenge all available oxygen for ammonia activation and use nitrate as terminal electron acceptor. Both scenarios require the presence of the biochemical machinery for ammonia oxidation to nitrate, potentially explaining a specific ecological niche for the occurrence of comammox bacteria in nature.

anammox
denitrification
nitrification
stoichiometry
thermodynamics

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:05c5251d-070f-43b9-897e-7d11f74066a5

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.622504

1664-302X

Frontiers in Microbiology, 12

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2021 R. Kleerebezem, Sebastian Lücker