Application of recognition of individual genes-fluorescence in situ hybridization (RING-FISH) to detect nitrite reductase genes (nirK) of denitrifiers in pure cultures and environmental samples.

ABSTRACT: Denitrification is an alternative type of anaerobic respiration in which nitrate is reduced to gaseous products via nitrite. The key step in this process is the reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide, which is catalyzed by two structurally different but functionally equivalent forms of nitrite reductase encoded by the nirK and nirS genes. Cultivation-independent studies based on these functional marker genes showed that in the environment there was a dominance of organisms with nirK and nirS genes presumably derived from organisms that have not been cultured yet. However, the phylogenetic affiliation of these organisms has not been resolved since the ability to denitrify is widespread in phylogenetically unrelated organisms. To unravel the phylogeny of the organisms from which the nitrite re

SUBMITTER: Pratscher J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2632154 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature