Differential expression of clade I and II N2O reductase genes in denitrifying Thauera linaloolentis 47LolT under different nitrogen conditions

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and its reduction to dinitrogen gas by the N2O reductase (encoded by the nosZ gene) is the only known biological N2O sink. Within the nosZ phylogeny there are two major clades (I and II), which seem to have different ecological niches. However, physiological differences of nosZI and nosZII expression that may impact emissions of N2O are not well understood. Here, we evaluated the differential expression of nosZI and nosZII, both present in Thauera linaloolentis strain 47Lol(T), in response to N2O concentration and the presence of the competing electron acceptor nitrate (NO3-). Different N2O levels had a negligible effect on the expression of both nosZ clades. Interestingly, nosZII expression was strongly upregulated in the absence of NO3-, while nosZI expression remained constant across the conditions tested. Thus, NO3- possibly inhibited nosZII expression, which suggests that N2O mitigation mediated by nosZII can be restricted due to the presence of NO3- in the environment. This is the first study demonstrating differential expression of nosZI and nosZII genes under the same physiological conditions and their implications for N2O emission under varying environmental conditions in terms of NO3- availability.