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Nitrite-Dependent Anaerobic Methane-Oxidising Bacteria: Unique Microorganisms with Special Properties

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Abstract

Microbial mediated nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (N-DAMO), which couples the oxidation of methane to nitrite reduction, is a recently discovered process. The discovery of N-DAMO process makes great contributions to complete the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen, and to develop novel economic biotechnology for simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal. This process is catalysed by the unique bacterium “Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera” (M. oxyfera), which belongs to the candidate phylum NC10, a phylum having no members in pure culture. In recent years, some microbiological properties of M. oxyfera have been unravelled. The most prominent examples are the discoveries of the special ultrastructure (star-like) of the cell shape and the unique chemical composition (10MeC16:1Δ7) of M. oxyfera that have not been found in other bacteria yet. More importantly, a new intra-aerobic pathway was discovered in M. oxyfera. It seems that M. oxyfera produces oxygen intracellularly by the conversion of two nitric oxide molecules to dinitrogen gas and oxygen, and the produced oxygen is then used for methane oxidation and normal respiration. The current paper is a systematic review in the microbiological properties of M. oxyfera, especially for its special properties.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Startup Foundation for Introducing Talent of NUIST (No. S8113112001) and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Li-dong Shen, Hong-sheng Wu & Zhi-qiu Gao

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhan-fei He

  3. State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Zhi-qiu Gao

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  1. Li-dong Shen
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  2. Zhan-fei He
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  4. Zhi-qiu Gao
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Correspondence to Li-dong Shen.

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Shen, Ld., He, Zf., Wu, Hs. et al. Nitrite-Dependent Anaerobic Methane-Oxidising Bacteria: Unique Microorganisms with Special Properties. Curr Microbiol 70, 562–570 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-014-0762-x

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