Denitrification by fungi

Summary

Many fungi in the centre of the group of Fusarium and its teleomorphs were shown to be capable of reducing nitrite anaerobically to form nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and/or dinitrogen (N₂). Several strains could reduce nitrate as well. Nitrous oxide was the major product of the reduction of nitrate or nitrite. Several fungi could also form N₂. When [¹⁵]nitrite was used as substrate for the N₂-forming dinitrification, ¹⁵N₂O, ¹⁵NO, and ¹⁴N¹⁵N were obtained as the products. These results demonstrated that, unexpectedly, many fungi have denitrifying abilities. It was also shown that the fungal system contains a unique reaction, formation of a hybrid dinitrogen.

Denitrification, Fungal denitrifier, Nitrous oxide