Nature Communications (Dec 2021)

Substantial oxygen consumption by aerobic nitrite oxidation in oceanic oxygen minimum zones

  • J. M. Beman,
  • S. M. Vargas,
  • J. M. Wilson,
  • E. Perez-Coronel,
  • J. S. Karolewski,
  • S. Vazquez,
  • A. Yu,
  • A. E. Cairo,
  • M. E. White,
  • I. Koester,
  • L. I. Aluwihare,
  • S. D. Wankel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27381-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Oxygen is fundamental for marine life, yet it is absent from large areas of the ocean. Here the authors demonstrate that microbial nitrite oxidation effectively consumes oxygen where oxygen concentrations are low, playing a pivotal role in these regions.