TY - JOUR
T1 - Biochemistry shapes growth kinetics of nitrifiers and defines their activity under specific environmental conditions
AU - Martinez-Rabert, Eloi
AU - Smith, Cindy J.
AU - Sloan, William T.
AU - González-Cabaleiro, Rebeca
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Is it possible to find trends between the parameters that define microbial growth to help us explain the vast microbial diversity? Through an extensive database of kinetic parameters of nitrifiers, we analyzed if the dominance of specific populations of nitrifiers could be predicted and explained. We concluded that, in general, higher growth yield (YXS) and ammonia affinity (a0NH3) and lower growth rate (µmax) are observed for ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) than bacteria (AOB), which would explain their considered dominance in oligotrophic environments. However, comammox (CMX), with the maximum energy harvest per mole of ammonia, and some AOB, have higher a0NH3 and lower µmax than some AOA. Although we were able to correlate the presence of specific terminal oxidases with observed oxygen affinities (a0O2) for nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), that correlation was not observed for AOB. Moreover, the presumed dominance of AOB over NOB in O2-limiting environments is discussed. Additionally, lower statistical variance of a0O2 values than for ammonia and nitrite affinities was observed, suggesting nitrogen limitation as a stronger selective pressure. Overall, specific growth strategies within nitrifying groups were not identified through the reported kinetic parameters, which might suggest that mostly, fundamental differences in biochemistry are responsible for underlying kinetic parameters.
AB - Is it possible to find trends between the parameters that define microbial growth to help us explain the vast microbial diversity? Through an extensive database of kinetic parameters of nitrifiers, we analyzed if the dominance of specific populations of nitrifiers could be predicted and explained. We concluded that, in general, higher growth yield (YXS) and ammonia affinity (a0NH3) and lower growth rate (µmax) are observed for ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) than bacteria (AOB), which would explain their considered dominance in oligotrophic environments. However, comammox (CMX), with the maximum energy harvest per mole of ammonia, and some AOB, have higher a0NH3 and lower µmax than some AOA. Although we were able to correlate the presence of specific terminal oxidases with observed oxygen affinities (a0O2) for nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), that correlation was not observed for AOB. Moreover, the presumed dominance of AOB over NOB in O2-limiting environments is discussed. Additionally, lower statistical variance of a0O2 values than for ammonia and nitrite affinities was observed, suggesting nitrogen limitation as a stronger selective pressure. Overall, specific growth strategies within nitrifying groups were not identified through the reported kinetic parameters, which might suggest that mostly, fundamental differences in biochemistry are responsible for underlying kinetic parameters.
KW - environmental engineering
KW - kinetic parameters
KW - microbial interaction
KW - nitrifiers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124552600&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/bit.28045
DO - 10.1002/bit.28045
M3 - Article
C2 - 35092010
AN - SCOPUS:85124552600
SN - 0006-3592
VL - 119
SP - 1290
EP - 1300
JO - Biotechnology and Bioengineering
JF - Biotechnology and Bioengineering
IS - 5
ER -