commercenews

Hidden literally in the shadows of every successful aquaculture operation lies a reclusive bacterial clan whose lifestyle spans the extremes of bizarre and beautiful. Few humans will ever see these magnificent creatures, miniature residents of life's trailing edge, yet without their help your fish would be downright miserable if not altogether lifeless. The group, collectively known as nitrifiers, actually includes two discrete microbial partners tied faithfully to a life of biochemical harmony. Together, they play a critical role in every earthly ecosystem, both aquatic and soil, scavenging potentially toxic nitrogen compounds from their surroundings, including: ammonia (NH 3 ) and nitrite (NO 2 - ). Linked in `bucket-brigade' fashion, this nitrifying family successively transforms these nitrogenous chemicals through a delicate set of biochemical oxidations, eventually producing a soluble nitrate (NO 3 - ) end-product. Given their subtle and minute nature, the role of nitrifyi...