Intergenomic Comparisons Highlight Modularity of the Denitrification Pathway and Underpin the Importance of Community Structure for N2O Emissions

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and the predominant ozone depleting substance. The only enzyme known to reduce N2O is the nitrous oxide reductase, encoded by the nosZ gene, which is present among bacteria and archaea capable of either complete denitrification or only N2O reduction to di-nitrogen gas. To determine whether the occurrence of nosZ, being a proxy for the trait N2O reduction, differed among taxonomic groups, preferred habitats or organisms having either NirK or NirS nitrite reductases encoded by the nirK and nirS genes, respectively, 652 microbial genomes across 18 phyla were compared. Furthermore, the association of different co-occurrence patterns with enzymes reducing nitric oxide…

• V
  Vetenskapsrådet

  Award: 2011-4421
• SL
  Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet