Nitrospirota

Nitrospirota
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Pseudomonadati
Phylum:	Nitrospirota; Garrity & Holt 2021
Classes and orders
	Nitrospiria; Thermodesulfovibrionia;
Synonyms
	"Nitrospirae" Garrity and Holt 2001; "Nitrospiraeota" Oren et al. 2015; "Nitrospirota" Whitman et al. 2018;

The Nitrospirota are a phylum of bacteria. They include multiple genera such as Nitrospira, the largest.

History of knowledge

The first member of this phylum, Nitrospira marina, was discovered in 1985. The second member, Nitrospira moscoviensis, was discovered in 1995. Nitrospira inopinata was discovered in 2015 and cultivated in 2017.

Metabolism

Nitrospirota contains nitrifying taxa which oxidize nitrite to nitrate (nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, NOB) and commamox bacteria: Nitrospira inopinata. Dissulfurispira thermophila (Thermodesulfovibrionia) grows by disproportionation of thiosulfate or elemental sulfur, so far the only known member of Nitrospirota capable of microbial sulfur disproportionation (MSD).

Phylogeny

16S rRNA based LTP_10_2024

120 marker proteins based GTDB 10-RS226

Thermodesulfovibrionia

Dissulfurispiraceae	Dissulfurispira

Thermodesulfovibrionaceae	Thermodesulfovibrio

Thermodesulfovibrionales

Nitrospiria

"Troglogloeales"

"Manganitrophaceae"	"Ca. Manganitrophus"

Nitrospirales

UBA8639

	"Ca. Nitronereus"

	Nitrospira_E

Nitrospiraceae

Nitrospira

Thermodesulfovibrionia

"Sulfobiaceae"	"Ca. Sulfobium"

Thermodesulfovibrionaceae

Thermodesulfovibrio

Dissulfurispiraceae

	Dissulfurispira

	"Ca. Nitrobium"

"Magnetobacteriaceae"

"Ca. Magnetocorallium"

"Ca. Magnetomicrobium"

	"Ca. Magnetominusculus"

	"Ca. Magnetobacterium"

Thermodesulfovibrionales

Taxonomy

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LSPN) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Genus ?"Candidatus Thermomagnetovibrio" Lefèvre et al. 2010
Class Nitrospiria Garrity & Holt 2022
- Order Nitrospirales Garrity & Holt 2022
  - Family UBA8639
    - Genus "Candidatus Nitronereus" Mueller et al. 2023
  - Family Nitrospiraceae Garrity & Holt 2022
    - Genus ?"Candidatus Nitronatura" Singleton et al. 2025
    - Genus ?"Candidatus Nitrosymbion" Glasl et al. 2024
    - Genus ?"Candidatus Porinitrospira" Taylor et al. 2022
    - Genus Nitrospira Watson et al. 1986
- Order "Troglogloeales" Yu et al. 2022
  - Genus ?"Candidatus Troglogloea" corrig. Kostanjsek et al. 2013
  - Family "Manganitrophaceae" Yu et al. 2022
    - Genus "Candidatus Manganitrophus" Yu & Leadbetter 2020
Class Thermodesulfovibrionia Umezawa et al. 2021
- Order "Mariimomonadales" Yoon et al. 2023
  - Family "Mariimomonadaceae" Yoon et al. 2023
    - Genus ?"Candidatus Mariimomonas Yoon et al. 2023
- Order Thermodesulfovibrionales Umezawa et al. 2023
  - Family "Sulfobiaceae" Pallen, Rodriguez-R & Alikhan 2022 [UBA6898]
    - Genus "Candidatus Sulfobium" Zecchin et al. 2018
  - Family Thermodesulfovibrionaceae Umezawa et al. 2021
    - Genus Thermodesulfovibrio Henry et al. 1994 emend. Sekiguchi et al. 2008
  - Family Dissulfurispiraceae Umezawa et al. 2021
    - Genus Dissulfurispira Umezawa et al. 2021
    - Genus "Candidatus Nitrobium" Arshad et al. 2017
  - Family "Magnetobacteriaceae" Chuvochina et al. 2023
    - Genus "Candidatus Magnetobacterium" Spring et al. 1993
    - Genus "Candidatus Magnetocorallium" Zhao et al. 2023
    - Genus "Candidatus Magnetomicrobium" Zhang et al. 2021
    - Genus "Candidatus Magnetominusculus" Lin et al. 2017
    - Genus ?"Candidatus Magnetovum" corrig. Lefevre et al. 2011

References

↑ Oren A, Garrity GM (2021). "Valid publication of the names of forty-two phyla of prokaryotes". Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 71 (10): 5056. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.005056. PMID 34694987.
↑ Watson SW, Bock E, Valois FW, Waterbury JB, Schlosser U (1986). "Nitrospira marina gen. nov. sp. nov.: a chemolithotrophic nitrite-oxidizing bacterium". Arch Microbiol. 144 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1007/BF00454947. S2CID 29796511.
↑ Ehrich S, Behrens D, Lebedeva E, Ludwig W, Bock E (July 1995). "A new obligately chemolithoautotrophic, nitrite-oxidizing bacterium, Nitrospira moscoviensis sp. nov. and its phylogenetic relationship". Archives of Microbiology. 164 (1): 16–23. doi:10.1007/BF02568729. PMID 7646315. S2CID 2702110.
1 2 Schoch CL; et al. "Nitrospirota". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
1 2 Daims H, Lebedeva EV, Pjevac P, Han P, Herbold C, Albertsen M, et al. (December 2015). "Complete nitrification by Nitrospira bacteria". Nature. 528 (7583): 504–9. Bibcode:2015Natur.528..504D. doi:10.1038/nature16461. PMC 5152751. PMID 26610024.
1 2 van Kessel MA, Speth DR, Albertsen M, Nielsen PH, Op den Camp HJ, Kartal B, et al. (December 2015). "Complete nitrification by a single microorganism". Nature. 528 (7583): 555–9. Bibcode:2015Natur.528..555V. doi:10.1038/nature16459. PMC 4878690. PMID 26610025.
↑ Kits KD, Sedlacek CJ, Lebedeva EV, Han P, Bulaev A, Pjevac P, et al. (September 2017). "Kinetic analysis of a complete nitrifier reveals an oligotrophic lifestyle". Nature. 549 (7671): 269–272. Bibcode:2017Natur.549..269K. doi:10.1038/nature23679. PMC 5600814. PMID 28847001.
↑ Daims H, Nielsen JL, Nielsen PH, Schleifer KH, Wagner M (November 2001). "In situ characterization of Nitrospira-like nitrite-oxidizing bacteria active in wastewater treatment plants". Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 67 (11): 5273–84. Bibcode:2001ApEnM..67.5273D. doi:10.1128/AEM.67.11.5273-5284.2001. PMC 93301. PMID 11679356.
↑ Umezawa, Kazuhiro; Kojima, Hisaya; Kato, Yukako; Fukui, Manabu (2021). "Dissulfurispira thermophila gen. nov., sp. nov., a thermophilic chemolithoautotroph growing by sulfur disproportionation, and proposal of novel taxa in the phylum Nitrospirota to reclassify the genus Thermodesulfovibrio". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 44 (2) 126184. doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2021.126184.
↑ Novak, Lukas V F; Jiang, Lijing; Hemon, Marie; Fernandez, Marilina; Russo, Léa; Wang, Shasha; Shao, Zongze; Da Cunha, Violette; Alain, Karine (2026-03-02). "Sulfur disproportionation occurs globally across anoxic habitats and has multiple mechanisms of independent evolutionary origin". The ISME Journal. doi:10.1093/ismejo/wrag042. ISSN 1751-7362.
↑ "The LTP". Retrieved 10 December 2024.
↑ "LTP_all tree in newick format". Retrieved 10 December 2024.
↑ "LTP_10_2024 Release Notes" (PDF). Retrieved 10 December 2024.
↑ "GTDB release 10-RS226". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
↑ "bac120_r226.sp_label". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
↑ "Taxon History". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
↑ Nitrospirota in LPSN; Freese, H. M.; Meier-Kolthoff, J. P.; Sardà Carbasse, J.; Afolayan, A. O.; Göker, M. (2026). "TYGS and LPSN in 2025: a Global Core Biodata Resource for genome-based classification and nomenclature of prokaryotes within DSMZ Digital Diversity". Nucleic Acids Research. 54 (D1): D884–D891. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf1110.

External links

"Leptospirillum sp".

[1] Oren A, Garrity GM (2021). "Valid publication of the names of forty-two phyla of prokaryotes". Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 71 (10): 5056. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.005056. PMID 34694987.

[2] Watson SW, Bock E, Valois FW, Waterbury JB, Schlosser U (1986). "Nitrospira marina gen. nov. sp. nov.: a chemolithotrophic nitrite-oxidizing bacterium". Arch Microbiol. 144 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1007/BF00454947. S2CID 29796511.

[3] Ehrich S, Behrens D, Lebedeva E, Ludwig W, Bock E (July 1995). "A new obligately chemolithoautotrophic, nitrite-oxidizing bacterium, Nitrospira moscoviensis sp. nov. and its phylogenetic relationship". Archives of Microbiology. 164 (1): 16–23. doi:10.1007/BF02568729. PMID 7646315. S2CID 2702110.

[NCBI-4] 1 2 Schoch CL; et al. "Nitrospirota". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database. Retrieved 2025-06-05.

[:0-5] 1 2 Daims H, Lebedeva EV, Pjevac P, Han P, Herbold C, Albertsen M, et al. (December 2015). "Complete nitrification by Nitrospira bacteria". Nature. 528 (7583): 504–9. Bibcode:2015Natur.528..504D. doi:10.1038/nature16461. PMC 5152751. PMID 26610024.

[:1-6] 1 2 van Kessel MA, Speth DR, Albertsen M, Nielsen PH, Op den Camp HJ, Kartal B, et al. (December 2015). "Complete nitrification by a single microorganism". Nature. 528 (7583): 555–9. Bibcode:2015Natur.528..555V. doi:10.1038/nature16459. PMC 4878690. PMID 26610025.

[7] Kits KD, Sedlacek CJ, Lebedeva EV, Han P, Bulaev A, Pjevac P, et al. (September 2017). "Kinetic analysis of a complete nitrifier reveals an oligotrophic lifestyle". Nature. 549 (7671): 269–272. Bibcode:2017Natur.549..269K. doi:10.1038/nature23679. PMC 5600814. PMID 28847001.

[8] Daims H, Nielsen JL, Nielsen PH, Schleifer KH, Wagner M (November 2001). "In situ characterization of Nitrospira-like nitrite-oxidizing bacteria active in wastewater treatment plants". Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 67 (11): 5273–84. Bibcode:2001ApEnM..67.5273D. doi:10.1128/AEM.67.11.5273-5284.2001. PMC 93301. PMID 11679356.

[9] Umezawa, Kazuhiro; Kojima, Hisaya; Kato, Yukako; Fukui, Manabu (2021). "Dissulfurispira thermophila gen. nov., sp. nov., a thermophilic chemolithoautotroph growing by sulfur disproportionation, and proposal of novel taxa in the phylum Nitrospirota to reclassify the genus Thermodesulfovibrio". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 44 (2) 126184. doi:10.1016/j.syapm.2021.126184.

[10] Novak, Lukas V F; Jiang, Lijing; Hemon, Marie; Fernandez, Marilina; Russo, Léa; Wang, Shasha; Shao, Zongze; Da Cunha, Violette; Alain, Karine (2026-03-02). "Sulfur disproportionation occurs globally across anoxic habitats and has multiple mechanisms of independent evolutionary origin". The ISME Journal. doi:10.1093/ismejo/wrag042. ISSN 1751-7362.

[11] "The LTP". Retrieved 10 December 2024.

[12] "LTP_all tree in newick format". Retrieved 10 December 2024.

[13] "LTP_10_2024 Release Notes" (PDF). Retrieved 10 December 2024.

[about-14] "GTDB release 10-RS226". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

[tree_bac-15] "bac120_r226.sp_label". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

[taxon_history-16] "Taxon History". Genome Taxonomy Database. Retrieved 1 May 2025.

[LPSN-17] Nitrospirota in LPSN; Freese, H. M.; Meier-Kolthoff, J. P.; Sardà Carbasse, J.; Afolayan, A. O.; Göker, M. (2026). "TYGS and LPSN in 2025: a Global Core Biodata Resource for genome-based classification and nomenclature of prokaryotes within DSMZ Digital Diversity". Nucleic Acids Research. 54 (D1): D884–D891. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf1110.