Nitrogen metabolism in haloarchaea

Aquatic Biosystems

David J Richardson²  Basilio Zafrilla¹  Carmen Pire¹  Rosa María Martínez-Espinosa¹  María José Bonete¹ 

[1]División de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Alicante, Ap. 99, E-03080, Alicante, Spain

[2]School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

Others  :  795176
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-1448-4-9

 received in 2008-01-15, accepted in 2008-07-01,  发布年份 2008

【 摘 要 】

The nitrogen cycle (N-cycle), principally supported by prokaryotes, involves different redox reactions mainly focused on assimilatory purposes or respiratory processes for energy conservation. As the N-cycle has important environmental implications, this biogeochemical cycle has become a major research topic during the last few years. However, although N-cycle metabolic pathways have been studied extensively in Bacteria or Eukarya, relatively little is known in the Archaea. Halophilic Archaea are the predominant microorganisms in hot and hypersaline environments such as salted lakes, hot springs or salted ponds. Consequently, the denitrifying haloarchaea that sustain the nitrogen cycle under these conditions have emerged as an important target for research aimed at understanding microbial life in these extreme environments.

The haloarchaeon Haloferax mediterranei was isolated 20 years ago from Santa Pola salted ponds (Alicante, Spain). It was described as a denitrifier and it is also able to grow using NO₃^-, NO₂^- or NH₄⁺ as inorganic nitrogen sources. This review summarizes the advances that have been made in understanding the N-cycle in halophilic archaea using Hfx mediterranei as a haloarchaeal model. The results obtained show that this microorganism could be very attractive for bioremediation applications in those areas where high salt, nitrate and nitrite concentrations are found in ground waters and soils.

【 授权许可】

   
2008 Bonete et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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