Nitrospira inopinata
Classification
Domain Bacteria; Phylum Nitrospirota; Class Nitrospira; Order Nitrospirales; Family Nitrospiraceae; Genus Nitrospira
Species
Nitrospira inopinata
Description and Significance
Nitrospira inopinata is a bacterium within the phylum Nitrospirota. Nitrospirota is a phylum containing nitrite-oxidizing bacteria that play an important role in nitrification. Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria convert nitrite (NO2-) to nitrate (NO3-) as part of the second nitrification step. N. inopinata is the first comammox bacterium to be discovered, and it has the ability to perform the nitrification process in one step. This involves the complete ammonia (NH4+) oxidation to nitrate (NO3-).
The species was first obtained in 2011 from a microbial biofilm formed on the metal surface of a pipe which was raised from 1,200m deep oil exploration well in Russia. N. inopinata in pure culture was later obtained in 2017.
Genome Structure
Genome sequencing of N. inopinata was first completed in 2015, and published in "Nature." The genome size is 3.3 Mbp, and includes 3,105 genes with a 59.2% GC content.
Ecology
Cell Structure, Metabolism, Life Cycle
Current Research
Literature Cited
Daims, H., Lebedeva, E. V., Pjevac, P., Han, P., Herbold, C., Albertsen, M., ... & Wagner, M. (2015). Complete nitrification by Nitrospira bacteria. Nature, 528(7583), 504-509.
Han, P., Yu, Y., Zhou, L., Tian, Z., Li, Z., Hou, L., ... & Men, Y. (2019). Specific micropollutant biotransformation pattern by the comammox bacterium Nitrospira inopinata. Environmental science & technology, 53(15), 8695-8705.
Koch, H., van Kessel, M. A., & Lücker, S. (2019). Complete nitrification: insights into the ecophysiology of comammox Nitrospira. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 103, 177-189.
Li, C., He, Z. Y., Hu, H. W., & He, J. Z. (2023). Niche specialization of comammox Nitrospira in terrestrial ecosystems: Oligotrophic or copiotrophic?. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 53(2), 161-176.
Lu, S., Sun, Y., Lu, B., Zheng, D., & Xu, S. (2020). Change of abundance and correlation of Nitrospira inopinata-like comammox and populations in nitrogen cycle during different seasons. Chemosphere, 241, 125098.
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Candidatus nitrospira inopinata - NCBI - NLM. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/data-hub/taxonomy/1715989/
Vijayan, A., Vattiringal Jayadradhan, R. K., Pillai, D., Prasannan Geetha, P., Joseph, V., & Isaac Sarojini, B. S. (2021). Nitrospira as versatile nitrifiers: Taxonomy, ecophysiology, genome characteristics, growth, and metabolic diversity. Journal of Basic Microbiology, 61(2), 88-109.
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, May 13). Nitrospira inopinata. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 20, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrospira_inopinata
Author
Alexis Ludwig; Dr. Hideotoshi Urakawa - Microbial Ecology Spring 2023
