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Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes

The microbial nitrogen cycle is one of the most complex and environmentally important element cycles on Earth and has long been thought to be mediated exclusively by prokaryotic microbes. Rather recently, it was discovered that certain eukaryotic microbes are able to store nitrate intracellularly an...

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Autores principales: Kamp, Anja, Høgslund, Signe, Risgaard-Petersen, Nils, Stief, Peter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4686598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26734001
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01492
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author Kamp, Anja
Høgslund, Signe
Risgaard-Petersen, Nils
Stief, Peter
author_facet Kamp, Anja
Høgslund, Signe
Risgaard-Petersen, Nils
Stief, Peter
author_sort Kamp, Anja
collection PubMed
description The microbial nitrogen cycle is one of the most complex and environmentally important element cycles on Earth and has long been thought to be mediated exclusively by prokaryotic microbes. Rather recently, it was discovered that certain eukaryotic microbes are able to store nitrate intracellularly and use it for dissimilatory nitrate reduction in the absence of oxygen. The paradigm shift that this entailed is ecologically significant because the eukaryotes in question comprise global players like diatoms, foraminifers, and fungi. This review article provides an unprecedented overview of nitrate storage and dissimilatory nitrate reduction by diverse marine eukaryotes placed into an eco-physiological context. The advantage of intracellular nitrate storage for anaerobic energy conservation in oxygen-depleted habitats is explained and the life style enabled by this metabolic trait is described. A first compilation of intracellular nitrate inventories in various marine sediments is presented, indicating that intracellular nitrate pools vastly exceed porewater nitrate pools. The relative contribution by foraminifers to total sedimentary denitrification is estimated for different marine settings, suggesting that eukaryotes may rival prokaryotes in terms of dissimilatory nitrate reduction. Finally, this review article sketches some evolutionary perspectives of eukaryotic nitrate metabolism and identifies open questions that need to be addressed in future investigations.
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spelling pubmed-46865982016-01-05 Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes Kamp, Anja Høgslund, Signe Risgaard-Petersen, Nils Stief, Peter Front Microbiol Microbiology The microbial nitrogen cycle is one of the most complex and environmentally important element cycles on Earth and has long been thought to be mediated exclusively by prokaryotic microbes. Rather recently, it was discovered that certain eukaryotic microbes are able to store nitrate intracellularly and use it for dissimilatory nitrate reduction in the absence of oxygen. The paradigm shift that this entailed is ecologically significant because the eukaryotes in question comprise global players like diatoms, foraminifers, and fungi. This review article provides an unprecedented overview of nitrate storage and dissimilatory nitrate reduction by diverse marine eukaryotes placed into an eco-physiological context. The advantage of intracellular nitrate storage for anaerobic energy conservation in oxygen-depleted habitats is explained and the life style enabled by this metabolic trait is described. A first compilation of intracellular nitrate inventories in various marine sediments is presented, indicating that intracellular nitrate pools vastly exceed porewater nitrate pools. The relative contribution by foraminifers to total sedimentary denitrification is estimated for different marine settings, suggesting that eukaryotes may rival prokaryotes in terms of dissimilatory nitrate reduction. Finally, this review article sketches some evolutionary perspectives of eukaryotic nitrate metabolism and identifies open questions that need to be addressed in future investigations. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-12-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4686598/ /pubmed/26734001 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01492 Text en Copyright © 2015 Kamp, Høgslund, Risgaard-Petersen and Stief. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Kamp, Anja
Høgslund, Signe
Risgaard-Petersen, Nils
Stief, Peter
Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes
title Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes
title_full Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes
title_fullStr Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes
title_full_unstemmed Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes
title_short Nitrate Storage and Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction by Eukaryotic Microbes
title_sort nitrate storage and dissimilatory nitrate reduction by eukaryotic microbes
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4686598/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26734001
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01492
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