Denitrification by a marine bacterium Pseudomonas nautica strain 617

A bacterial strain was isolated from a marine sediment highly contaminated by hydrocarbons. From taxonomic tests, it was identified as Pseudomonas nautica. This marine strain was able to grow on nitrate, nitrite and nitrous oxide as an electron acceptor. The terminal product from the denitrification was dinitrogen. Thus, P. nautica was a denitrifier. The kinetics of each step of denitrification was examined in resting cell suspensions. The relative rates of nitrate and nitrite reduction and of nitrite reduction and nitrous oxide production explain, respectively, the presence of accumulated nitrite and that of compound intermediate between nitrite and nitrous oxide.