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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2007, p. 1420-1424, Vol. 73, No. 5
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02508-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Growth Yields in Bacterial Denitrification and Nitrate Ammonification{triangledown}

Tobin O. Strohm,1 Ben Griffin,1,{dagger} Walter G. Zumft,2 and Bernhard Schink1*

Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany,1 Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Universität Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany2

Received 27 October 2006/ Accepted 22 December 2006

Denitrification and nitrate ammonification are considered the highest-energy-yielding respiration systems in anoxic environments after oxygen has been consumed. The corresponding free energy changes are 7 and 35% lower than that of aerobic respiration, respectively. Growth yield determinations with pure cultures of Paracoccus denitrificans and Pseudomonas stutzeri revealed that far less energy is converted via ATP into cell mass than expected from the above calculations. Denitrification with formate or hydrogen as electron donor yielded about 2.4 to 3.0 g dry matter per mol formate or hydrogen and 15 to 18 g dry matter per mol acetate. Similar yields with acetate were obtained with Pseudomonas stutzeri. Wolinella succinogenes and Sulfurospirillum deleyianum, which reduce nitrate to ammonia, both exhibited similar yield values with formate or H2 plus nitrate. The results indicate that ATP synthesis in denitrification is far lower than expected from the free energy changes and even lower than in nitrate ammonification. The results are discussed against the background of our present understanding of electron flow in denitrification and with respect to the importance of denitrification and nitrate ammonification in the environment.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany. Phone: (49) 7531 882140. Fax: (49) 7531 884047. E-mail: Bernhard.Schink{at}uni-konstanz.de.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 5 January 2007.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2007, p. 1420-1424, Vol. 73, No. 5
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02508-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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