The environmental controls that govern the end product of bacterial nitrate respiration
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology · Bielefeld University · +7 more institutions
Abstract
In the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle, microbial respiration processes compete for nitrate as an electron acceptor. Denitrification converts nitrate into nitrogenous gas and thus removes fixed nitrogen from the biosphere, whereas ammonification converts nitrate into ammonium, which is directly reusable by primary producers. We combined multiple parallel long-term incubations of marine microbial nitrate-respiring communities with isotope labeling and metagenomics to unravel how specific environmental conditions select for either process. Microbial generation time, supply of nitrite relative to nitrate, and the carbon/nitrogen ratio were identified as key environmental controls that determine whether nitrite will…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 16.48
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 30
Authors
8- BKBeate Kraft
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
- HEHalina E. Tegetmeyer
Bielefeld University, Hochschule Bielefeld, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
- RSRitin Sharma
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
- MGMartin G. Klotz
University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Xiamen University
- TGTimothy G. Ferdelman
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Topics & keywords
- Nitrate
- Biogeochemical cycle
- Denitrification
- Nitrogen cycle
- Environmental chemistry
- Denitrifying bacteria
- Nitrite
- Chemistry
- Life below water