N ₂ O reduction at low pH
ABSTRACT Microbial N ₂ O reduction in acid soils became a conundrum when NosZ maturation was found to be impaired at pH ≤6 in both model organisms and soil communities. Yet, evolution appears to have repeatedly circumvented this constraint. Examples include the identification of two small proteins that enable maturation of canonical NosZ at low pH, as well as the Schinkia sp. isolated by G. He, M. E. Davin, S. Kolodney, E. Stutzman, et al. (Appl Environ Microbiol 92:e00069-26, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00069-26 ), which carries a unique repertoire of nosZ genes and grows by N 2 O respiration across pH 4.4–8.5. These discoveries help resolve the conundrum and may provide new options for mitigating N 2 O emissions.
Authors
- Åsa Frostegård (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4754-5994)
- Lars Reier Bakken (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6017-7997)
Institutions
- Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology
- Published
- 2026-10-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01424-26
- Primary Topic
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Norges Forskningsråd