ArticleNature2015
Complete nitrification by a single microorganism.
Article in Nature, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 455 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
455 citing papers in PubMed, 1,846 citations in OpenAlex.
- Niche specialization and prevalence of comammox Nitrospira in the alkaline sediments of thermokarst lakes on the Tibetan Plateau.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Wastewater-Derived Comammox Nitrospira for Next-Generation Wastewater Management.Environmental science & technology · 2026Review
- Three Decades of Soil NGlobal change biology · 2026Review
- Bacterial community succession and functional gene dynamics of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in recirculating aquaculture systems of shrimp.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Linking Abundance and Activity of Ammonia-Oxidising Bacteria and Archaea in an Agriculturally Impacted First-Order Stream.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Elucidating the Role of Bacterial and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculants in Mitigating Nitrous Oxide (NMicroorganisms · 2026Review
- Shifts in soil microbiome surrounding a thermal treatment facility for hazardous waste: the hidden impact of environmentally persistent free radicals.Environmental science. Processes & impacts · 2026Article
- A Novel Nitrogen Metabolism Pathway in StrainBiology · 2026Article
- Ammonia monooxygenase: a work in progress.Chemical science · 2026Review
- NWater science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research · 2026Article
- Metagenomic analysis of the biofilm community at the oxic-anoxic interface of a deep-underground saline spring at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Cultivation-Based Detection of a Novel High-GC Nitrospira Derived From the Argentinian Copahue Volcano Area.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Mikania micrantha invasion restructures rhizosphere nitrogen cycling through enzyme activation, microbial recruitment, and allelopathic regulation.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Article
- A novel North Sea ammonia-oxidizing archaeon Nitrosarchaeum marinum leverages a high abundance of transport systems to grow over a wide salinity range.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Unveiling Global Diversity of Patescibacteriota and Functional Interactions with Host Microbes.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Oxygen Isotopic Fractionation of OACS environmental Au · 2026Article
- Elevated temperature simulating heatwaves restructures active nitrifying communities and associated viruses in tidal flats and agricultural soils.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Hypoosmolarity inhibits ammonia oxidation by terrestrial and freshwater Nitrosopumilaceae members.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Cobamide-producing microbes as a model for understanding general nutritional interdependencies in soil food webs.Nature communications · 2026Article
395 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Nitrification is a two-step process where ammonia is first oxidized to nitrite by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and/or archaea, and subsequently to nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. Already described by Winogradsky in 1890, this division of labour between the two functional groups is a generally accepted characteristic of the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle. Complete oxidation of ammonia to nitrate in one organism (complete ammonia oxidation; comammox) is energetically feasible, and it was postulated that this process could occur under conditions selecting for species with lower growth rates but higher growth yields than canonical ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms. Still, organisms catalysing this process have not yet been discovered. Here we report the enrichment and initial characterization of two Nitrospira species that encode all the enzymes necessary for ammonia oxidation via nitrite to nitrate in their genomes, and indeed completely oxidize ammonium to nitrate to conserve energy. Their ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) enzymes are phylogenetically distinct from currently identified AMOs, rendering recent acquisition by horizontal gene transfer from known ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms unlikely. We also found highly similar amoA sequences (encoding the AMO subunit A) in public sequence databases, which were apparently misclassified as methane monooxygenases. This recognition of a novel amoA sequence group will lead to an improved understanding of the environmental abundance and distribution of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms. Furthermore, the discovery of the long-sought-after comammox process will change our perception of the nitrogen cycle.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.