Nitrospinota Explained

Nitrospinota is a bacterial phylum. Despite only few described species, members of this phylum are major nitrite-oxidizing bacteria in surface waters in oceans. By oxidation of nitrite to nitrate they are important in the process of nitrification in marine environments.[1]

Although the genus Nitrospina is an aerobic bacterium, it was shown to oxidize nitrite also in oxygen minimum zone of the ocean. Depletion of oxygen in such zones leads to preference of anaerobic processes such as denitrification and nitrogen loss through anammox. Nitrospina thus outweigh nitrogen loss by nitrification also in these oxygen depleted zones.[2] [3]

Among the cultivated isolates within the genus Nitrospina are Nitrospina gracilis[4] and Nitrospina watsonii.[5] Further genomes were resolved by culture-independent metagenome binning. The two Nitrospina species are, however, distantly related to environmentally abundant uncultured Nitrospinota.[6] The two other strains were cultivated in 2020 each in the binary culture with alphaproteobacterial heterotroph. They are called "Candidatus Nitrohelix vancouverensis" and "Candidatus Nitronauta litoralis". "Nitrohelix vancouverensis" is closely related to uncultivated environmentally abundant Nitrospinota clades 1 and 2.

Taxonomy

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) [7] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)[8]

Phylum Nitrospinota Lücker et al. 2021

Notes and References

  1. Lücker S, Nowka B, Rattei T, Spieck E, Daims H . The Genome of Nitrospina gracilis Illuminates the Metabolism and Evolution of the Major Marine Nitrite Oxidizer . Frontiers in Microbiology . 4 . 27 . 2013 . 23439773 . 3578206 . 10.3389/fmicb.2013.00027 . free .
  2. Beman JM, Leilei Shih J, Popp BN . Nitrite oxidation in the upper water column and oxygen minimum zone of the eastern tropical North Pacific Ocean . The ISME Journal . 7 . 11 . 2192–205 . November 2013 . 23804152 . 3806268 . 10.1038/ismej.2013.96 .
  3. Sun X, Kop LF, Lau MC, Frank J, Jayakumar A, Lücker S, Ward BB . Uncultured Nitrospina-like species are major nitrite oxidizing bacteria in oxygen minimum zones . The ISME Journal . 13 . 10 . 2391–2402 . October 2019 . 31118472 . 6776041 . 10.1038/s41396-019-0443-7 .
  4. Watson. Stanley W.. Waterbury. John B.. 1971. Characteristics of two marine nitrite oxidizing bacteria, Nitrospina gracilis nov. gen. nov. sp. and Nitrococcus mobilis nov. gen. nov. sp.. Archiv für Mikrobiologie. 77. 3. 203–230. 10.1007/bf00408114. 35169111. 0302-8933.
  5. Spieck. Eva. Keuter. Sabine. Wenzel. Thilo. Bock. Eberhard. Ludwig. Wolfgang. May 2014. Characterization of a new marine nitrite oxidizing bacterium, Nitrospina watsonii sp. nov., a member of the newly proposed phylum "Nitrospinae". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 37. 3. 170–176. 10.1016/j.syapm.2013.12.005. 24581679. 0723-2020.
  6. Mueller. Anna J.. Jung. Man-Young. Strachan. Cameron R.. Herbold. Craig W.. Kirkegaard. Rasmus H.. Wagner. Michael. Daims. Holger. March 2021. Genomic and kinetic analysis of novel Nitrospinae enriched by cell sorting. The ISME Journal. en. 15. 3. 732–745. 10.1038/s41396-020-00809-6. 33067588. 8026999. 1751-7362. free.
  7. Web site: J.P. Euzéby . "Nitrospinae" . 2020-11-17 . List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN).
  8. .Web site: Sayers. Nitrospinae . 2020-11-17 . National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database. etal.