ArticleNature communications2020
Single cell analyses reveal contrasting life strategies of the two main nitrifiers in the ocean.
Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 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.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 112 citations in OpenAlex.
- Branched-chain amino acid assimilation enables mixotrophy of ammonia-oxidizing archaeal sponge symbionts.Science advances · 2026Article
- Depth-dependent distribution patterns of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing microorganisms in the water column of stratified lakes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Floodplain nitrifiers harbor the genetic potential for utilizing a wide range of organic nitrogen compounds.mSystems · 2025Article
- Easily Biodegradable Organic Carbon Release in the Deep Bed of Slow Sand Filters.ACS ES&T water · 2025Article
- Sediments From a Seasonally Euxinic Coastal Ecosystem Show High Nitrogen Cycling Potential.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- High diversity of nitrifying bacteria and archaea in biofilms from a subsea tunnel.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Article
- Single-cell imaging reveals efficient nutrient uptake and growth of microalgae darkening the Greenland Ice Sheet.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A powerful but frequently overlooked role of thermodynamics in environmental microbiology: inspirations from anammox.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Review
- Dark ocean archaeal and bacterial chemoautotrophs drive vitamin B1 production in oxygen minimum zones.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Essential nucleic acid omics: a theoretical foundation for early-stage users.Frontiers in bioinformatics · 2025Review
- Metaproteomic analysis decodes trophic interactions of microorganisms in the dark ocean.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- An abundant bacterial phylum with nitrite-oxidizing potential in oligotrophic marine sediments.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Metagenomic characterization of a novel non-ammonia-oxidizing Thaumarchaeota from hadal sediment.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Dynamics and activity of an ammonia-oxidizing archaea bloom in South San Francisco Bay.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Ultrastructural insights into cellular organization, energy storage and ribosomal dynamics of an ammonia-oxidizing archaeon from oligotrophic oceans.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Metabolic and phylogenetic diversity in the phylumISME communications · 2024Article
- Cultivation and genomic characterization of novel and ubiquitous marine nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the Nitrospirales.The ISME journal · 2023Article
- Nitrite Oxidation in Wastewater Treatment: Microbial Adaptation and Suppression Challenges.Environmental science & technology · 2023Review
- Insights into the prokaryotic communities of the abyssal-hadal benthic-boundary layer of the Kuril Kamchatka Trench.Environmental microbiome · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, is a key process in marine nitrogen (N) cycling. Although oceanic ammonia and nitrite oxidation are balanced, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) vastly outnumber the main nitrite oxidizers, the bacterial Nitrospinae. The ecophysiological reasons for this discrepancy in abundance are unclear. Here, we compare substrate utilization and growth of Nitrospinae to AOA in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on our results, more than half of the Nitrospinae cellular N-demand is met by the organic-N compounds urea and cyanate, while AOA mainly assimilate ammonium. Nitrospinae have, under in situ conditions, around four-times higher biomass yield and five-times higher growth rates than AOA, despite their ten-fold lower abundance. Our combined results indicate that differences in mortality between Nitrospinae and AOA, rather than thermodynamics, biomass yield and cell size, determine the abundances of these main marine nitrifiers. Furthermore, there is no need to invoke yet undiscovered, abundant nitrite oxidizers to explain nitrification rates in the ocean.
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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.