Bacteria in the Nitrogen Cycle
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The nitrogen cycle is one of the most important cycles in the ecosystem because all living organisms use nitrogen to produce organic molecules like proteins and nucleic acids. Nitrogen will, under equilibrium conditions, tend to revert to its gaseous state. Organisms cannot consume gaseous nitrogen, therefore it is necessary for bacteria to convert gaseous nitrogen to compounds such as ammonium ions (NH4+), nitrate ions (NO3-) and nitrite ions (NO2-); this forms part of the nitrogen cycle.
Bacteria that are involved in the nitrogen cycle are mostly autotrophic, i.e. capable of making their own food from inorganic matter. They are also chemosynthetic and are able to synthesize organic from inorganic materials through special chemical processes, which generally involve the oxidation of nitrogen. These organisms are greatly involved in the process of nitrogen fixation, nitrification and denitrification in the nitrogen cycle.
The first process in the nitrogen cycle is nitrogen fixation, the combination of nitrogen with other elements to form ammonia and organic nitrogen compounds, used by plants for protein synthesis. Called biological nitrogen fixation, this process involves bacteria like symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobium, certain cyanobacteria, and some anaerobic bacteria like Aztobacter and Clostridium...