Dinitrogen production from nitrite by a nitrosomonas isolate.

A chemolithotrophic ammonium-oxidizing bacterium that was able to reduce NO(2) to N(2) (m/z 30) while oxidizing ammonium under conditions of oxygen stress was isolated from stream sediments. Energy was derived from ammonium oxidation, as evidence by growth, with CO(2) serving as the sole C source. The organism was a gram-negative, motile, short rod that failed to grow either aerobically or anaerobically in heterotroph media. The organism was identified as a Nitrosomonas sp.