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Anaerobic ammonium oxidation by marine and freshwater planctomycete-like bacteria

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Abstract

Recently, two fresh water species, "Candidatus Brocadia anammoxidans" and "Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis", and one marine species, "Candidatus Scalindua sorokinii", of planctomycete anammox bacteria have been identified. "Candidatus Scalindua sorokinii" was discovered in the Black Sea, and contributed substantially to the loss of fixed nitrogen. All three species contain a unique organelle—the anammoxosome—in their cytoplasm. The anammoxosome contains the hydrazine/hydroxylamine oxidoreductase enzyme, and is thus the site of anammox catabolism. The anammoxosome is surrounded by a very dense membrane composed almost exclusively of linearly concatenated cyclobutane-containing lipids. These so-called 'ladderanes' are connected to the glycerol moiety via both ester and ether bonds. In natural and man-made ecosystems, anammox bacteria can cooperate with aerobic ammonium-oxidising bacteria, which protect them from harmful oxygen, and provide the necessary nitrite. The cooperation of these two groups of ammonium-oxidising bacteria is the microbial basis for a sustainable one reactor system, CANON (completely autotrophic nitrogen-removal over nitrite) to remove ammonia from high strength wastewater.

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Acknowledgements

The research on anaerobic ammonium oxidation over the years has been financially supported by the European Union EESD EVK1-CT-2000-00054, the Foundation for Applied Sciences (STW), the Foundation of Applied Water Research (STOWA), the Netherlands Foundation for Earth and Life Sciences (NWO-ALW), the Danish National Science Foundation, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), DSM-Gist, and Paques BV. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of many co-workers and students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, KU Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, NL 6525 ED , Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    M. S. M. Jetten, K. van de Pas-Schoonen, H. J. M. Op den Camp, I. Schmidt & M. Strous

  2. Department of Biotechnology, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands

    M. S. M. Jetten, O. Sliekers, L. van Niftrik, I. Cirpus, J. G. Kuenen & M. Schmid

  3. MPI Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany

    M. Kuypers, G. Lavik & B. B. Jørgensen

  4. NERI, Silkeborg, Denmark

    T. Dalsgaard

  5. Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    B. Thamdrup & D. E. Canfield

  6. Genoscope, Evry, France

    D. Le Paslier & J. Weissenbach

  7. Department of Analytical and Marine Chemistry, Goteborg University, Goteborg, Sweden

    S. Hulth & P. Engström

  8. Department of Ecology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    L. P. Nielsen & N. P. Revsbech

  9. Paques BV, Balk, The Netherlands

    W. Abma

  10. Witteveen and Bos, Deventer, The Netherlands

    K. Third

  11. Department of Marine Biogeochemistry and Toxicology, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Den Burg, The Netherlands

    J. S. Sinninghe Damsté

  12. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Queensland , Brisbane, Australia

    J. Fuerst

  13. Department of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    M. Wagner

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  1. M. S. M. Jetten
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Correspondence to M. S. M. Jetten.

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Jetten, M.S.M., Sliekers, O., Kuypers, M. et al. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation by marine and freshwater planctomycete-like bacteria. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 63, 107–114 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-003-1422-4

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