Missing lithotroph identified as new planctomycete

Marc Strous, John A. Fuerst, Evelien H. M. Kramer, Susanne Logemann, Gerard Muyzer, Katinka T. van de Pas-Schoonen, Richard Webb, J. Gijs Kuenen and Mike S. M. Jetten ()
Additional contact information
Marc Strous: Delft University of Technology
John A. Fuerst: University of Queensland
Evelien H. M. Kramer: Delft University of Technology
Susanne Logemann: Delft University of Technology
Gerard Muyzer: Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Katinka T. van de Pas-Schoonen: Delft University of Technology
Richard Webb: University of Queensland
J. Gijs Kuenen: Delft University of Technology
Mike S. M. Jetten: Delft University of Technology

Nature, 1999, vol. 400, issue 6743, 446-449

Abstract: Abstract With the increased use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture, many densely populated countries face environmental problems associated with high ammonia emissions. The process of anaerobic ammonia oxidation (‘anammox’) is one of the most innovative technological advances in the removal of ammonia nitrogen from waste water1,2. This new process combines ammonia and nitrite directly into dinitrogen gas3. Until now, bacteria capable of anaerobically oxidizing ammonia had never been found and were known as “lithotrophs missing from nature”4. Here we report the discovery of this missing lithotroph and its identification as a new, autotrophic member of the order Planctomycetales, one of the major distinct divisions of the Bacteria5. The new planctomycete grows extremely slowly, dividing only once every two weeks. At present, it cannot be cultivated by conventional microbiological techniques. The identification of this bacterium as the one responsible for anaerobic oxidation of ammonia makes an important contribution to the problem of unculturability.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/22749 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:400:y:1999:i:6743:d:10.1038_22749

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/22749

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().