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The Family Nitrobacteraceae

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The Prokaryotes

Abstract

The biological oxidations of ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, collectively referred to as nitrification, are carried out in nature by two physiological groups of Gram-negative, chemolithotrophic bacteria. The organisms in both groups fix carbon dioxide via the Calvin cycle (Campbell, Hellebust, and Watson, 1966) for their major source of cell carbon and derive their energy and reducing power either from the oxidation of ammonia (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) or nitrite (nitrite-oxidizing bacteria). With the exception of a few strains of Nitrobacter winogradskyi, which can be grown chemoheterotro-phically, the nitrifying bacteria are obligate chemo-lithotrophs.

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Authors
  1. Stanley W. Watson
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  2. Frederica W. Valois
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  3. John B. Waterbury
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bacteriology, University of California, 95616, Davis, California, USA

    Mortimer P. Starr

  2. Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Universität Bayreuth, 8580, Bayreuth, Federal Republic of Germany

    Heinz Stolp

  3. Institut für Mikrobiologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 5300, Bonn 1, Federal Republic of Germany

    Hans G. Trüper

  4. Bacteriology Division, Centers for Disease Control, 30333, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Albert Balows

  5. Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Göttingen, 3400, Göttingen, Federal Republic of Germany

    Hans G. Schlegel

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© 1981 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Watson, S.W., Valois, F.W., Waterbury, J.B. (1981). The Family Nitrobacteraceae. In: Starr, M.P., Stolp, H., Trüper, H.G., Balows, A., Schlegel, H.G. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-13187-9_80

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-13187-9_80

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-13189-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-13187-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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