Title
Low yield and abiotic origin of N2O formed by the complete nitrifier Nitrospira inopinata
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Abstract
Nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO) are atmospheric trace gases that contribute to climate change and affect stratospheric and ground-level ozone concentrations. Ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) are key players in the nitrogen cycle and major producers of N2O and NO globally. However, nothing is known about N2O and NO production by the recently discovered and widely distributed complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox). Here, we show that the comammox bacterium Nitrospira inopinata is sensitive to inhibition by an NO scavenger, cannot denitrify to N2O, and emits N2O at levels that are comparable to AOA but much lower than AOB. Furthermore, we demonstrate that N2O formed by N. inopinata formed under varying oxygen regimes originates from abiotic conversion of hydroxylamine. Our findings indicate that comammox microbes may produce less N2O during nitrification than AOB.
Keywords
Bacterial physiologyElement cyclesEnvironmental microbiologyMicrobial ecology
Object type
Language
English [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1168797
Appeared in
Title
Nature Communications
Volume
10
ISSN
2041-1723
Issued
2019
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date issued
2019
Access rights
Rights statement
© The Author(s) 2019

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