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PubMed2002

Detection and quantification of expression of amoA by competitive reverse transcription-pCR.

Ammonia oxidation by chemolithoautotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria is an important step in the biological nitrogen removal process. The first conversion step, the oxidation of ammonia to hydroxylamine is catalyzed by ammonia monooxygenase (AMO). To investigate the activity of ammonia oxidation, mRNA (designated as amoA) encoding a subunit of AMO was quantified by competitive reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. As a result, it was possible to detect and quantify amoA expression in cultured Nitrosomonas europaea and even complex microbial communities such as nitrifying bacterial aggregates by competitive RT-PCR. It was estimated that amoA concentration in cultured N. europaea was 2.3 x 10(8) copies x ml(-1). Additionally, it was calculated that the copy number of amoA in nitrifying bacterial aggregates was 1.0 x 10(12) copies x ml(-1) (5.1 x 10(10) copies x mg(-1)-dry weight). On the other hand, amoA expression in the natural activated sludge in a household Gappei-Johkaso was undetectable, whereas 16S rRNA of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria was detected by RT-PCR. Then, four days cultivation of this sludge in inorganic artificial wastewater resulted in increasing amoA expression to a quantifiable amount by competitive RT-PCR. In conclusion, the competitive RT-PCR was effective to investigate the expression of amoA as an indicator of ammonia oxidation activity by autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria.

Ammonia↗

PubMed2003

Activity and population dynamics of heterotrophic and ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in soil surrounding sludge bands spiked with linear alkylbenzene sulfonate: a field study.

Recent research has documented soil microorganisms to be rather sensitive to linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS), which may enter the soil environment in considerable quantities following sewage sludge disposal. We here report field effects of LAS on selected microbial populations present in a sandy soil surrounding well-defined sludge bands spiked with high but realistic LAS levels (7.1 or 31.3 g/kg). Surprisingly, LAS had no effect on heterotrophic respiration in the sludge compartment per se but stimulated activity and metabolic quotient (microbial activity per unit of biomass) in the surrounding soil. By contrast, autotrophic ammonia oxidation was initially inhibited in the LAS-spiked sludge. This led to dramatic transient increases of NH4+ availability in the sludge and surrounding soil, subsequently stimulating soil ammonia oxidizers. As judged from a Nitrosomonas europaea bioluminescence toxicity assay, however, LAS or other sludge components never accumulated to toxic levels in the soil compartments and the LAS tolerance of the indigenous microbes further remained unchanged following LAS exposure. LAS effects on the investigated microbial populations largely occurred during the first two months and were confined to soil closer than 30 mm from LAS-spiked sludge. Our results strongly suggest that disposal of LAS-contaminated sludge does not pose a major risk to the function of the soil microbial community under field conditions.

Alkanesulfonic Acids↗

PubMed2004

Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of nitrifiers in piggery wastewater treatment reactors.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to analyze the nitrifying microbial communities in an activated sludge reactor (ASR) and a fixed biofilm reactor (FBR) for piggery wastewater treatment. Heterotrophic oxidation and nitrification were occurring simultaneously in the ASR and the COD and nitrification efficiencies depend on the loads. In the FBR nitrification efficiency also depends on ammonium load to the reactor and nitrite was accumulated when free ammonia concentration was higher than 0.2 mg NH3-N/L. FISH analysis showed that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (NSO1225) and denitrifying bacteria (RRP1088) were less abundant than other bacteria (EUB338) in ASR. Further analysis on nitrifying bacteria in the FBR showed that Nitrosomonas species (NSM156) and Nitrospira species (NSR1156) were the dominant ammonia-oxidizing and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, respectively, in the piggery wastewater nitrification system.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Using a compact combined constructed wetland system to treat agricultural wastewater with high nitrogen.

The objectives of this study were to find appropriate conditions for nitrogen removal by a compact combined constructed wetland system and to evaluate the removal rate constant in a tropical climate. This study will present suitable operating conditions for a combined system to treat pig farm wastewater containing high ammonia-nitrogen. Four laboratory-scale combined constructed wetland units (0.5 x 1.0 x 1.0 m3): vertical flow vegetated bed over horizontal flow sand bed, were operated under an average temperature of 24 degrees C. Pig farm wastewater with COD and NH4-N concentration of 1034 and 448 mg/L in average was fed to the system at different HLR from 2 to 8 cm/day. The performance of the system when operated with a vertical flow bed followed by a horizontal flow bed or vice versa did not show a significant difference but under high HLR, nitrogen removal efficiencies were clearly reduced. Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas were found in a large number in vertical flow beds and the same for denitrifier bacteria in a horizontal flow beds. Removal rate constants for nitrification (kNH4+ -N) were 0.0413 m/d for H-Vmode and 0.0339 m/d for V-H mode. Removal rate constants for denitrification (kNOx-N) were 0.0979 m/d for H-Vmode and 0.0399 m/d for V-H mode, respectively.

Agriculture↗

PubMed2003

[Study on the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria from activated sludge samples by the molecular analysis].

The molecular analysis methods of PCR amplification, random cloning and sequencing were used to investigate the ammonia-oxidizing bacterial community composition and the activity of ammonia-monooxygenase (AMO) from the activated sludge samples of an industrial wastewater treatment plant receiving sewage with high ammonia concentration. It is the first time to use PCR-DGGE combined technique to analysis the difference of dominant bacterial community compositions of the activated sludge samples in China. The result showed that the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) detected from the activated sludge samples all belong to Nitrosomonas sp. The activity of AMO, the stability of bacteria community composition and the treatment efficiency of the wastewater treatment system were improved evidently, after the activated sludge system was operated for a certain extant. It is suggested that the molecular techniques will contribute to our understanding of the diversity and function of AOB and will benefit to improve the industrial wastewater treatment system.

Ammonia↗

PubMed2005

Pilot-scale studies on biological treatment of hypersaline wastewater at low temperature.

In order to investigate the feasibility of biological treatment of hypersaline wastewater produced from toilet flushing with seawater at low temperature, pilot-scale studies were established with plug-flow activated sludge process at low temperature (5-9 degrees C) based on bench-scale experiments. The critical salinity concentration of 30 g/L, which resulted from the cooperation results of the non-halophilic bacteria and the halophilic bacteria, was drawn in bench-scale experiments. Pilot-scale studies showed that high COD removal efficiency, higher than 80%, was obtained at low temperature when 30 percent seawater was introduced. The salinity improved the settleability of activated sludge, and average sludge value dropped down from 38% to 22.5% after adding seawater. Seawater salinity had a strong negative effect on notronomonas and nitrobacter growth, but much more on the nitrobacter. The nitrification action was mainly accomplished by nitrosomonas. Bench-scale experiments using two SBRs were carried out for further investigation under different conditions of salinities, ammonia loadings and temperatures. Biological nitrogen removal via nitrite pathway from wastewater containing 30 percent seawater was achieved, but the ammonia removal efficiency was strongly related not only to the influent ammonia loading at different salinities but also to temperature. When the ratio of seawater to wastewater was 30 percent, and the ammonia loading was below the critical value of 0.15 kgNH4+-N/(kgMLSS.d), the ammonia removal efficiency via nitrite pathway was above 90%. The critical level of ammonia loading was 0.15, 0.08 and 0.03 kgNH4+-N/(kgMLSS.d) respectively at the different temperature 30 degrees C, 25 degrees C and 20 degrees C when the influent ammonia concentration was 60-80 mg/L and pH was 7.5-8.0.

Ammonia↗

PubMed2006

[Enhanced ammonia removal and microbial community structure analysis using bacterial quinone profile in ITFB].

Water quality during the start-up period was changed in order to enhance the later nitrifying ability of the internal-circulation three-phase bio-fluidized bed (ITFB). The experimental results showed that high N/C ratio and low feeding concentration of COD were two key conditions for enhancing the ammonia removal. After the enhanced start-up, an efficient removal efficiency of both COD and ammonia was achieved with HRT 2h when treating sanitary wastewater, the average ammonia removal rate was 74% , the ammonia concentration in effluent was lower than 10 mg/L. Bacterial quinone profile of the system was also analyzed. The results showed that after the enhanced start-up, the number of nitrifying bacteria, such as Nitrosomonas europaea, in the biofilm in ITFB was increased, and the number of gamma-Proteobacteria, such as Acinetobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp., was decreased. the equitability of the quinones (EQ) fluctuated around 0.5 showed that the distribution of the microbial community in the biofilm changed little. UQ/MK ratio of all the samples was greater than 1 indicated that Gram-negative bacteria was the dominant bacteria in the system.

Ammonia↗

PubMed1976

[The effect of pH and partial pressure of oxygen on nitrification (author's transl)].

A mathematical model which describes the effect of pH and dissolved oxygen on growth and activity of Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter in mixed culture is presented. A good fit is obtained between experimental data and theoretical curves computed with parameters estimated by independent methods. Experimental data together with simulation studies show that inadequate aeration induces a temporal shift of ammonium and nitrite oxidations resulting in a transient nitrite accumulation similar to that caused by an increase of temperature.

Hydrogen-Ion Concentration↗

PubMed2006

Sequencing batch membrane biofilm reactor for simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal: novel application of membrane-aerated biofilm.

A sequencing batch membrane biofilm reactor (SBMBfR) was developed for simultaneous carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus removal from wastewater. This reactor was composed of two functional parts: (1) a gas-permeable membrane on which a nitrifying biofilm formed and (2) a bulk solution in which bacteria, mainly denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (DNPAOs), were suspended. The reactor was operated sequentially under anaerobic condition and then under membrane aeration condition in one cycle. During the anaerobic period, organic carbon was consumed by DNPAOs; this was accompanied by phosphate release. During the subsequent membrane aeration period, nitrifying bacteria utilized oxygen supplied directly to them from the inside of the membrane. Consequently, the nitrite and nitrate products diffused into the bulk solution, where they were used by DNPAOs as electron acceptors for phosphate uptake. In a long-term sequencing batch operation, the mean removal efficiencies of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (T-N), and total phosphorus (T-P) under steady-state condition were 99%, 96%, and 90%, respectively. In addition, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) clearly demonstrated the difference in bacterial community structure between the membrane biofilm and the suspended sludge: ammonia-oxidizing bacteria belonging to the Nitrosomonas group were dominant in the region adjacent to the membrane throughout the operation, and the occupation ratio of the well-known polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) Candidatus "Accumulibacter phosphates" in the suspended sludge gradually increased to a maximum of 37%.

Bacteria↗

PubMed1999

Taxon-specific content of oligonucleotide triplets in 16S rRNAs of anoxygenic phototrophic and nitrifying bacteria.

Theoretical evaluation of the content of oligonucleotide triplets AAA, CCC, and UAU in 16S rRNAs of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (genera Chlorobium; Chloroflexus; Chromatium: Rhodopseudomonas) and nitrifying bacteria (genera Nitrosococcus, Nitrosomonas, Nitrosolobus, Nitrosovibrio, Nitrospira, Nitrospina, Nitrobacter) showed that the number of the AAA, CCC or UAU triplets in 16S rRNAs specifically corresponds to the genus and species of bacteria. The ratio of AAA and CCC triplet numbers in the sequences of 16S rRNA (AAA/CCC) of anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria was within the range of 0.61 to 2.03, and the ratio of AAA and UAU (AAA/UAU) triplet numbers in the sequence of 16S rRNA was within the range of 2.88 to 12.00. The regions of any genus within the AAA/CCC and AAA/UAU axes did not overlap. The combination of the numbers of nucleotide triplets in 16S rRNA is genus-specific character. The similar data were obtained in the study of a physiological group of nitrifying bacteria. The range of AAA/UAU ratio was from 1.8 to 9.0, and range of AAA/CCC was from 0.9 to 2.6 for this taxon. The number of triplets in 16S rRNAs of the studied taxa was genus- and species-specific character. The biological significance of these data is the evidence that not only the sequence but the number of nucleotide triplets in 16S rRNAs reflects the phylogeny of corresponding taxa.

Bacteria↗

PubMed1980

Serological studies on lithotrophic, ammonia oxidizing bacteria.

Rabbit antisera were prepared against living cells of six different ammonia oxidizing nitrifying bacteria. They were examined as to cross-reactivity in the agglutination test (Microtiter-system) with 24 nitrifier strains, including members of all known genera. Usually distinct cross-reactions were obtained only within the genera, but some exceptions were noticed. There was stated a clear cross-reaction between the two anti-Nitrosospira-antisera and the four tested Nitrosolobus strains. In some cases cross-reactions between cells of the Nitrosovibrio strains and the anti-Nitrosospira- as well as the anti-Nitrosococcus-antisera could be observed. The interpretation of the results obtained with the Nitrosomonas group was complicated by the fact that all strains showed positive zero titers with the control sera. In seven cases lipopolysaccharides were isolated and tested in the passive hemagglutination test to their cross-reactivity with the above mentioned antisera. Hemagglutination could only be observed in the homologous system, cross-reactivity was never expressed.

Antigens, Bacterial↗

PubMed2002

The ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase gene cluster of Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath).

The genes encoding the ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath) were localised to an 8.3-kb EcoRI fragment of the genome. Genes encoding the large subunit ( cbbL), small subunit ( cbbS) and putative regulatory gene ( cbbQ) were shown to be located on one cluster. Surprisingly, cbbO, a second putative regulatory gene, was not located in the remaining 1.2-kb downstream (3') of cbbQ. However, probing of the M. capsulatus (Bath) genome with cbbO from Nitrosomonas europaea demonstrated that a cbbO homologue was contained within a separate 3.0-kb EcoRI fragment. Instead of a cbbR ORF being located upstream (5') of cbbL, there was a moxR-like ORF that was transcribed in the opposite direction to cbbL. There were three additional ORFs within the large 8.3-kb EcoRI fragment: a pyrE-like ORF, an rnr-like ORF and an incomplete ORF with no sequence similarity to any known protein. Phylogenetic analysis of cbbL from M. capsulatus (Bath) placed it within clade A of the green-type Form 1 Rubisco. cbbL was expressed in M. capsulatus (Bath) when grown with methane as a sole carbon and energy source under both copper-replete and copper-limited conditions. M. capsulatus (Bath) was capable of autotrophic growth on solid medium but not in liquid medium. Preliminarily investigations suggested that other methanotrophs may also be capable of autotrophic growth. Rubisco genes were also identified, by PCR, in Methylococcus-like strains and Methylocaldum species; however, no Rubisco genes were found in Methylomicrobium album BG8, Methylomonas methanica S1, Methylomonas rubra, Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b or Methylocystis parvus OBBP.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2002

Evaluation of non-cyanobacterial genome sequences for occurrence of genes encoding proteins homologous to cyanophycin synthetase and cloning of an active cyanophycin synthetase from Acinetobacter sp. strain DSM 587.

All publicly accessible microbial genome databases were searched for the occurrence of genes encoding proteins homologous to the cyanophycin synthetase (CphA) of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 in order to reveal the capability of microorganisms not belonging to the cyanobacteria to synthesize cyanophycin. Among 65 genome sequences, genes homologous to cphA were found in Acinetobacter sp. strain ADP1 (encoding a protein homologous to CphA with 40% amino acid identity), Bordetella bronchiseptica strain RB50 (39%), Bordetella pertussis strain Tohama I (39%), Bordetella parapertussis strain 12822 (39%), Clostridium botulinum strain ATCC 3502 (39%), Desulfitobacterium hafniense strain DCB-2 (38%) and Nitrosomonas europaea strain ATCC 25978 (37%). The gene homologous to cphA from Acinetobacter sp. strain DSM 587 was amplified by PCR, ligated to the vector pBluescript SK(-) downstream of the lac promoter and introduced into Escherichia coli. The recombinant strain of E. coli expressed CphA activity at up to 1.2 U/mg protein and accumulated cyanophycin to up to 7.5% of the cellular dry matter, indicating that CphA of Acinetobacter sp. strain DSM 587 is functionally active. In Acinetobacter sp. strain DSM 587 itself, cyanophycin accumulated to up to 1.4% of the total protein under phosphate-limited conditions, and cyanophycin synthetase activity was detected, which indicated the function of cyanophycin as a storage compound in this strain.

Acinetobacter↗

PubMed2000

Primary structure of cytochrome c' of Methylococcus capsulatus Bath: evidence of a phylogenetic link between P460 and c'-type cytochromes.

Cytochrome c' of Methylococcus capsulatus Bath is involved in electron flow from the enzyme responsible for hydroxylamine oxidation, cytochrome P460, to cytochrome C555. This cytochrome is spectrally similar to other cytochromes c' but is larger (16,000 Da) and has a lower midpoint potential (-205 mV). By a combination of Edman degradation, mass spectroscopy, and gene sequencing, we have obtained the primary structure of cytochrome c' from M. capsulatus Bath. The cytochrome shows low sequence similarity to other cytochromes c', only residues R12, Y53, G56, and the C-terminal heme-binding region (GXXCXXCHXXXK) being conserved. In contrast, cytochrome c' from M. capsulatus Bath shows considerable sequence similarity to cytochromes P460 from M. capsulatus Bath (31% identity) and from Nitrosomonas europaea (18% identity). This suggests that P460-type cytochromes may have originated from a c'-type cytochrome which developed a covalent cross-link between a lysine residue and the c'-heme.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2001

Inhibition of aerobic growth and nitrification of bacteria in sewage sludge by antibacterial agents.

Toxicity of antibacterial agents on environmentally relevant bacteria was investigated using activated sludge. The growth and nitrifying inhibiting effects for activated sludge of benzyl penicillin (penicillin G) (BP), tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC), oxytetracycline (OTC), olaquindox (O), streptomycin (ST), tiamulin (TI), tylosin (TYL) sulfadiazine (SDZ), metronidazole (MET), and oxolinic acid (OXA) was investigated. Studies were performed in accordance to the ISO 15522 (1999) and ISO 9509 (1989) test guidelines, respectively. The toxicity (EC50 value, mg/L) found with the ISO 15522 was in decreasing EC50 values; O (95.7), BP (84.6), TYL (54.7), TI (14.3), TC (2.2), OTC (1.2), ST (0.47), CTC (0.40), and OXA (0.1). No observed effect concentrations (NOECs) (mg/L) of 100 and 60, respectively was found for MET and SDZ. Triplicate tests assessing the effects of the antibacterial agents on the nitrification rate gave indications only as the level of increased or decreased rate. More accurate data for the inhibition of Nitrosomonas europaea was found with a suspended culture of the nitrifying bacteria. The toxicity (EC50 value, mg/L) found was in decreasing EC50 values; TI (23.3), SDZ (17.0), TC (4.0), OTC (1.7), OXA (1.0), CTC (0.64), O (0.03), ST (0.02). For MET and TYL, NOECs (mg/L) of 100 and 50 were found, respectively. The antibacterial agents were also assessed using a pour plate method with both (separately tested) activated sludge bacteria and N. europeae showing to be 5 to 10 times more potent to most agents except SDZ, TI, and MET.

Ammonia↗

PubMed2001

Species Diversity of Uncultured and Cultured Populations of Soil and Marine Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria.

Although molecular techniques are considered to provide a more comprehensive view of species diversity of natural microbial populations, few studies have compared diversity assessed by molecular and cultivation-based approaches using the same samples. To achieve this, the diversity of natural populations of ammonia oxidising bacteria in arable soil and marine sediments was determined by analysis of 16S rDNA sequences from enrichment cultures, prepared using standard methods for this group, and from 16S rDNA cloned from DNA extracted directly from the same environmental samples. Soil and marine samples yielded 31 and 18 enrichment cultures, respectively, which were compared with 50 and 40 environmental clones. There was no evidence for selection for particular ammonia oxidizer clusters by different procedures employed for enrichment from soil samples, although no culture was obtained in medium at acid pH. In soil enrichment cultures, Nitrosospira cluster 3 sequences were most abundant, whereas clones were distributed more evenly between Nitrosospira clusters 2, 3, and 4. In marine samples, the majority of enrichment cultures contained Nitrosomonas, whereas Nitrosospira sequences were most abundant among environmental clones. Soil enrichments contained a higher proportion of identical sequences than clones, suggesting laboratory selection for particular strains, but the converse was found in marine samples. In addition, 16% of soil enrichment culture sequences were identical to those in environmental clones, but only 1 of 40 marine enrichments was found among clones, indicating poorer culturability of marine strains represented in the clone library, under the conditions employed. The study demonstrates significant differences in species composition assessed by molecular and culture-based approaches but indicates also that, employing only a limited range of cultivation conditions, 7% of the observed sequence diversity in clones of ammonia oxidizers from these environments could be obtained in laboratory enrichment culture. Further studies and experimental approaches are required to determine which approach provides better representation of the natural community.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Microbial composition and structure of a rotating biological contactor biofilm treating ammonium-rich wastewater without organic carbon.

High nitrogen losses were observed in a rotating biological contactor (RBC) treating ammonium-rich (up to 500 mg NH4(+)-N/L) but organic-carbon-poor leachate from a hazardous waste landfill in Kölliken, Switzerland. The composition and spatial structure of the microbial community in the biofilm on the RBC was analyzed with specific attention for the presence of aerobic ammonium and nitrite oxidizing bacteria and anaerobic ammonium oxidizers. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) involves the oxidation of ammonium with nitrite to N2. First the diversity of the biofilm community was determined from sequencing cloned PCR-amplified 16S rDNA fragments. This revealed the presence of a number of very unusual 16S rDNA sequences, but very few sequences related to known ammonium or nitrite oxidizing bacteria. From analysis of biofilm samples by fluorescence in situ hybridization with known phylogenetic probes and by dot-blot hybridization of the same probes to total RNA purified from biofilm samples, the main groups of microorganisms constituting the biofilm were found to be ammonium-oxidizing bacteria from the Nitrosomonas europaea/eutropha group, anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria of the "Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis" type, filamentous bacteria from the phylum Bacteroidetes, and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the genus Nitrospira. Aerobic and anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria were present in similar amounts of around 20 to 30% of the biomass, whereas members of the CFB phylum were present at around 7%. Nitrite oxidizing bacteria were only present in relatively low amounts (less than 5% determined with fluorescence in situ hybridization). Data from 16S rRNA dot-blot and in situ hybridization were not in all cases congruent. FISH analysis of thin-sliced and fixed biofilm samples clearly showed that the aerobic nitrifiers were located at the top of the biofilm in an extremely high density and in alternating clusters. Anammox bacteria were exclusively present in the lower half of the biofilm, whereas CFB-type filamentous bacteria were present throughout the biofilm. The structure and composition of these biofilms correlated very nicely with the proposed physiological functional separations in ammonium conversion.

Bacteria, Aerobic↗

PubMed2005

Competition and coexistence of aerobic ammonium- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria at low oxygen concentrations.

In natural and man-made ecosystems nitrifying bacteria experience frequent exposure to oxygen-limited conditions and thus have to compete for oxygen. In several reactor systems (retentostat, chemostat and sequencing batch reactors) it was possible to establish co-cultures of aerobic ammonium- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria at very low oxygen concentrations (2-8 microM) provided that ammonium was the limiting N compound. When ammonia was in excess of oxygen, the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were washed out of the reactors, and ammonium was converted to mainly nitrite, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide by Nitrosomonas-related bacteria. The situation could be rapidly reversed by adjusting the oxygen to ammonium ratio in the reactor. In batch and continuous tests, no inhibitory effect of ammonium, nitric oxide or nitrous oxide on nitrite-oxidizing bacteria could be detected in our studies. The recently developed oxygen microsensors may be helpful to determine the kinetic parameters of the nitrifying bacteria, which are needed to make predictive kinetic models of their competition.

Ammonia↗