John Lawrence Seminar Series

Anaerobic Nitrite Oxidation in the Ocean

Oxidation of nitrite to nitrate, the second step in nitrification, is thought to be an obligately aerobic process. Using data from stable isotope tracer experiments and metagenomics, I will make the case that nitrite oxidation occurs in the absence of oxygen in some regions of the ocean.  The microbes responsible appear to be a clade of Nitrospina that is restricted to anoxic environments, and is distinct from the Nitrospina that are the most abundant nitrite oxidizers in the rest of the ocean.  Oxidation of nitrite leads to its retention in the system as nitrate, rather than being lost from the fixed N pool as N2, and thus compels a re-evaluation of the fate of N in anoxic environments.

January 10 at 4:00 PM (PT)

Calendar Event: Linked Here

Host: Susannah Tringe, Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology Division