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Influence of photoinhibition on nitrification by ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems

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Abstract

Photoinhibition of ammonia oxidation occurs widely in aquatic environments and could suppress the nitrification rate, lead to the composition variation of inorganic nitrogen and influence the stability of aquatic ecosystems. Both ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea are sensitive to light. The extent of photoinhibition and the time required for recovery depend on light wavelength, intensity, photon quantity and strains. Strong evidence indicates that photoinhibition in AOB by visible light is mainly caused by irreversible damage to ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) and the degradation of AMO is beneficial to AOB recovery. This review discusses photoinhibition in metabolic pathways used by ammonia oxidizers.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate helpful suggestions from Dr. Liao Ming-jun (College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China). This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31702390), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0900701), and the Chinese Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System (CARS-46). We thank International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) for editing this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shimin Lu or Xingguo Liu.

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Lu, S., Liu, X., Liu, C. et al. Influence of photoinhibition on nitrification by ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 19, 531–542 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-020-09540-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-020-09540-2

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