Low Probability of Initiating nirS Transcription Explains Observed Gas Kinetics and Growth of Bacteria Switching from Aerobic Respiration to Denitrification
Figure 1
Data generated by batch cultivation of Pa. denitrificans [4] (redrawn).
As the cells transited from oxic to anoxic conditions (Panel A), Bergaust et al. [4] observed a severe depression in the total e−-flow rate (i.e., to O2+NOx, Panel B), which was taken to indicate that only a fraction of the cells switched to anaerobic respiration (denitrification). Had all of the cells switched, the total e−-flow would have carried on increasing without such a depression. The depression was followed by an exponential increase in the e−-flow rate, which was ascribed to anaerobic growth of a small fraction () of the cells that escaped entrapment in anoxia and carried on growing by denitrification.