Widespread occurrence of nitrate storage and denitrification among Foraminifera and Gromiida

Research areas:

• Environnement, Paléo-Environnement et Bio-Indicateurs (2011 - 2016)

Year:

2010

Authors:

• E. Piña-Ochoa
• S. Hogslund
• Emmanuelle Geslin
• T. Cedhagen
• N. -P. Revsbech
• L. -P. Nielsen
• Magali Schweizer
• Frans Jorissen
• S. Rysgaard
• Nils Risgaard-Petersen

Journal:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume:

107

Number:

3

Pages:

1148 - 1153

Month:

2010

ISSN:

0027-8424

BibTex:

@article{ua3886, author = "E. Pi{\~n}a-Ochoa and S. Hogslund and Emmanuelle Geslin and T. Cedhagen and N.-P. Revsbech and L.-P. Nielsen and Magali Schweizer and Frans Jorissen and S. Rysgaard and Nils Risgaard-Petersen", abstract = "Benthic foraminifers inhabit a wide range of aquatic environments including open marine, brackish, and freshwater environments. Here we show that several different and diverse foraminiferal groups (miliolids, rotaliids, textulariids) and Gromia, another taxon also belonging to Rhizaria, accumulate and respire nitrates through denitrification. The widespread occurrence among distantly related organisms suggests an ancient origin of the trait. The diverse metabolic capacity of these organisms, which enables them to respire with oxygen and nitrate and to sustain respiratory activity even when electron acceptors are absent from the environment, may be one of the reasons for their successful colonization of diverse marine sediment environments. The contribution of eukaryotes to the removal of fixed nitrogen by respiration may equal the importance of bacterial denitrification in ocean sediments. ", doi = "10.1073/pnas.0908440107", extra = "PICL", issn = "0027-8424", journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America", month = "2010", number = "3", pages = "1148 - 1153", publisher = "National Academy of Sciences", title = "{W}idespread occurrence of nitrate storage and denitrification among {F}oraminifera and {G}romiida", type = "1", url = "http://okina.univ-angers.fr/publications/ua3886", volume = "107", year = "2010", }

Abstract:

Benthic foraminifers inhabit a wide range of aquatic environments including open marine, brackish, and freshwater environments. Here we show that several different and diverse foraminiferal groups (miliolids, rotaliids, textulariids) and Gromia, another taxon also belonging to Rhizaria, accumulate and respire nitrates through denitrification. The widespread occurrence among distantly related organisms suggests an ancient origin of the trait. The diverse metabolic capacity of these organisms, which enables them to respire with oxygen and nitrate and to sustain respiratory activity even when electron acceptors are absent from the environment, may be one of the reasons for their successful colonization of diverse marine sediment environments. The contribution of eukaryotes to the removal of fixed nitrogen by respiration may equal the importance of bacterial denitrification in ocean sediments.