Growth of complete ammonia oxidizers on guanidine

Marton Palatinszky, Craig W. Herbold, Christopher J. Sedlacek, Dominic Pühringer, Katharina Kitzinger, Andrew T. Giguere, Kenneth Wasmund, Per H. Nielsen, Morten K. D. Dueholm, Nico Jehmlich, Richard Gruseck, Anton Legin, Julius Kostan, Nesrete Krasnici, Claudia Schreiner, Johanna Palmetzhofer, Thilo Hofmann, Michael Zumstein, Kristina Djinović-Carugo, Holger Daims and Michael Wagner ()
Additional contact information
Marton Palatinszky: University of Vienna
Craig W. Herbold: University of Vienna
Christopher J. Sedlacek: University of Vienna
Dominic Pühringer: University of Vienna
Katharina Kitzinger: University of Vienna
Andrew T. Giguere: University of Vienna
Kenneth Wasmund: University of Vienna
Per H. Nielsen: Aalborg University
Morten K. D. Dueholm: Aalborg University
Nico Jehmlich: Department of Molecular Systems Biology
Richard Gruseck: University of Vienna
Anton Legin: University of Vienna
Julius Kostan: University of Vienna
Nesrete Krasnici: University of Vienna
Claudia Schreiner: University of Vienna
Johanna Palmetzhofer: University of Vienna
Thilo Hofmann: University of Vienna
Michael Zumstein: University of Vienna
Kristina Djinović-Carugo: University of Vienna
Holger Daims: University of Vienna
Michael Wagner: University of Vienna

Nature, 2024, vol. 633, issue 8030, 646-653

Abstract: Abstract Guanidine is a chemically stable nitrogen compound that is excreted in human urine and is widely used in manufacturing of plastics, as a flame retardant and as a component of propellants, and is well known as a protein denaturant in biochemistry1–3. Guanidine occurs widely in nature and is used by several microorganisms as a nitrogen source, but microorganisms growing on guanidine as the only substrate have not yet been identified. Here we show that the complete ammonia oxidizer (comammox) Nitrospira inopinata and probably most other comammox microorganisms can grow on guanidine as the sole source of energy, reductant and nitrogen. Proteomics, enzyme kinetics and the crystal structure of a N. inopinata guanidinase homologue demonstrated that it is a bona fide guanidinase. Incubation experiments with comammox-containing agricultural soil and wastewater treatment plant microbiomes suggested that guanidine serves as substrate for nitrification in the environment. The identification of guanidine as a growth substrate for comammox shows an unexpected niche of these globally important nitrifiers and offers opportunities for their isolation.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07832-z

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