Unfortunately complete denitrification is less common than incomplete one. I am saying unfortunately because for me as environmentalist incomplete denitrification is of concern because of GHG emissions.Denitrification will not aiways create NO2 in the water. Only if it is incomplete. A well working system will transfer NO3 seemless into N2.
Sincerely Lasse
I doubt we managed somehow in our reefs to select only complete denitrificators, I think if there is denitrification happening it will be similar to the one happening in natural systems. I'm not saying NO3 will not be transferred to dinitrogen, I am saying it will probably involve more than one strain of bacteria (including non-complete denitrificators) and there will be intermediate products (such as NO2) of denitrification present and detectable in the water.
"Genome sequencing has provided a better appreciation of the distribution of denitrification genes among microbes. Complete denitrification, the reduction of nitrate to N2, is less frequent than partial denitrification among sequenced bacteria. Partial denitrification chains of nearly all possible arrangments have been found."
Denitrifying Prokaryotes
Denitrification is the dissimilatory reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gas. This respiratory process requires four enzymes that produce three obligatory intermediates prior to production of the terminal product. Denitrification is found in diverse array of microbes...
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