Systems-level metabolic modelling of a denitrifying bacterium important for mitigating fixed nitrogen pollution

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) is a novel biological process by which a group of strictly anaerobic bacteria convert ammonia together with nitrite into nitrogen gas. 𝑁𝐻4+ + 𝑁𝑂2− → 𝑁2 + 2𝐻2𝑂 Due to the slow growth rate of these bacteria, as indicated by the doubling time of 2 to 11, the denitrification process can hardly be utilized in an industrial scale for the removal of excess fixed nitrogen compounds from the environment. The Anammox bacterium selected in the project is Candidatus Kuenenia stuttgartiensis (CKS), an Anammox bacterium that was discovered by Strous and his colleagues in 1999. A genome-scale metabolic model is generated to reveal the metabolic network within the Anammox bacteria.