Nitrifying bacteria

Nitrifying bacteria are chemolithotrophic organisms that include species of genera such as Nitrosomonas, Nitrosococcus, Nitrobacter, Nitrospina, Nitrospira and Nitrococcus. These bacteria get their energy from the oxidation of inorganic nitrogen compounds.[1] Types include ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Many species of nitrifying bacteria have complex internal membrane systems that are the location for key enzymes in nitrification: ammonia monooxygenase (which oxidizes ammonia to hydroxylamine), hydroxylamine oxidoreductase (which oxidizes hydroxylamine to nitric oxide - which is further oxidized to nitrite by a currently unidentified enzyme), and nitrite oxidoreductase (which oxidizes nitrite to nitrate).[2]

  1. ^ Mancinelli RL (1996). "The nature of nitrogen: an overview". Life Support & Biosphere Science: International Journal of Earth Space. 3 (1–2): 17–24. PMID 11539154.
  2. ^ Kuypers, MMM; Marchant, HK; Kartal, B (2011). "The Microbial Nitrogen-Cycling Network". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 1 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1038/nrmicro.2018.9. hdl:21.11116/0000-0003-B828-1. PMID 29398704. S2CID 3948918.