Ecological perspectives on microbes involved in N-cycling

Nitrogen (N) cycles have been directly linked to the functional stability of ecosystems because N is an essential element for life. Furthermore, the supply of N to organisms regulates primary productivity in many natural ecosystems. Microbial communities have been shown to significantly contribute to N cycles because many N-cycling processes are microbially mediated. Only particular groups of microbes were implicated in N-cycling processes, such as nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification, until a few decades ago. However, recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and sophisticated isolation techniques have enabled microbiologists to discover that N-cycling microbes are unexpectedly diverse in their functions and phylogenies. Therefore, elucidating the link between biogeochemical N-cycling processes and microbial community dynamics can provide a more mechanistic understanding of N cycles than the direct observation of N dynamics. In this review, we summarized recent findings that characterized the microbes governing novel N-cycling processes. We also discussed the ecological role of N-cycling microbial community dynamics, which is essential for advancing our understanding of the functional stability of ecosystems.