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Comment
. 2012 Oct 30;109(44):17732-3.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1215654109. Epub 2012 Oct 16.

Marine archaea take a short cut in the nitrogen cycle

David L Kirchman  1
Affiliations
Comment

Marine archaea take a short cut in the nitrogen cycle

David L Kirchman. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Pathways linking urea and nitrification. (A) Current pathway, featuring an autotroph, such as an alga, that takes up and degrades urea using urease (ureC). The resulting CO2 is fixed by ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (rbc) in the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (CBB) cycle. The resulting ammonium is taken up by a chemolithotrophic bacterium that oxidizes ammonia to nitrite using ammonia monooxygenase (amoA). The second step in nitrification, the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate, is carried out by other microbes. (B) Shorter pathway suggested Alonso-Sáez et al. (1). Instead of one microbe degrading urea and another oxidizing ammonia, the authors suggest that some marine Archaea combine the reactions. Rather than the CBB cycle, these Archaea use the 3-hydroxypropionate-4-hydroxybutyrate pathway (3-HP/4-HB) for inorganic carbon fixation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Role for urea in nitrification by polar marine Archaea.
    Alonso-Sáez L, Waller AS, Mende DR, Bakker K, Farnelid H, Yager PL, Lovejoy C, Tremblay JÉ, Potvin M, Heinrich F, Estrada M, Riemann L, Bork P, Pedrós-Alió C, Bertilsson S. Alonso-Sáez L, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Oct 30;109(44):17989-94. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1201914109. Epub 2012 Oct 1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012. PMID: 23027926 Free PMC article.

References

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