Function
Reduces N2 to 2 NH3 with obligate ATP hydrolysis and an H2-evolution side reaction. Strongly O2-sensitive; many implementations add protection or temporal/spatial separation.
A taxon-neutral decomposition of the biological nitrogen cycle: the set of microbially driven redox transformations that interconvert dinitrogen, ammonia, hydroxylamine, nitrite, nitrate, nitric oxide, nitrous oxide, and hydrazine. The module is organized by transformation (fixation, nitrification, denitrification, DNRA, anammox, assimilatory reduction, and ammonification) rather than by organism, and uses variant sets where convergent enzyme chemistries (e.g. cd1 vs Cu nitrite reductase) implement the same step. Leaf steps are grounded to canonical reviewed Swiss-Prot exemplars where one exists; abstract function selectors are used where no reviewed exemplar is available (nitrite-oxidizer NXR). Companion to projects/NITROGEN_CYCLE.md and the GO:0071941 obsoletion project (projects/NITROGEN_CYCLE_OBSOLETION.md).
All recommended fields populated.
✗ none found
No MODULE:nitrogen_cycle deep-research report alongside the module YAML.
1 leaf node(s) with no concrete protein grounding:
✓ every declared conforms_to bundle matches its template motif.
✓ every PRECEDES step chains, or its break is acknowledged via chaining_status.
5 gene-function check(s) reflected in core functions · 0 conflict(s) · 9 evidence or coverage gap(s) (19 comparison(s))
Retained noncore functions are reported separately; they do not require promotion to core functions. Support from representative genes does not establish conservation across the whole family. Missing reviews or identifiers leave a claim unverified.
| Annoton | Participant | Function | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| nitrogenase_complex | PROTEIN_COMPLEX Gene |
nitrogenase activity GO:0016163 |
Participant Unchecked
No direct UniProt participant to compare. Abstract selectors and complex-wide activities cannot be inferred from donor or subunit gene reviews. |
| amo_complex | PROTEIN_COMPLEX Gene |
ammonia monooxygenase activity GO:0018597 |
Participant Unchecked
No direct UniProt participant to compare. Abstract selectors and complex-wide activities cannot be inferred from donor or subunit gene reviews. |
| hao_activity | HAO UniProtKB:Q50925 Gene |
hydroxylamine oxidoreductase activity GO:0033740 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| nxr_activity | ANY_WITH_FUNCTION Gene |
nitrite oxidation to nitrate GO:0160182 |
Participant Unchecked
No direct UniProt participant to compare. Abstract selectors and complex-wide activities cannot be inferred from donor or subunit gene reviews. |
| narG_activity | NarG UniProtKB:P09152 Gene |
nitrate reductase (quinone) activity GO:0160182 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| napA_activity | NapA UniProtKB:Q56350 Gene |
nitrate reductase (cytochrome) activity GO:0050140 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| nirS_activity | NirS UniProtKB:P24474 Gene |
nitrite reductase (NO-forming) activity GO:0050421 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| nirK_activity | NirK UniProtKB:P25006 Gene |
nitrite reductase (NO-forming) activity GO:0050421 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| nor_activity | PROTEIN_COMPLEX Gene |
nitric oxide reductase activity GO:0016966 |
Participant Unchecked
No direct UniProt participant to compare. Abstract selectors and complex-wide activities cannot be inferred from donor or subunit gene reviews. |
| nosZ_activity | NosZ UniProtKB:Q51705 Gene |
nitrous-oxide reductase activity GO:0050304 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| nrfA_activity | NrfA UniProtKB:P0ABK9 Gene |
nitrite reductase (cytochrome, ammonia-forming) activity GO:0042279 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| hzs_activity | PROTEIN_COMPLEX Gene |
hydrazine synthase activity GO:0140304 |
Participant Unchecked
No direct UniProt participant to compare. Abstract selectors and complex-wide activities cannot be inferred from donor or subunit gene reviews. |
| hdh_activity | HDH UniProtKB:Q1PW30 Gene |
hydrazine dehydrogenase activity GO:0140287 |
Review Missing
No ai-review exists for this protein; its function and core-function coverage cannot yet be checked. |
| narB_activity | NarB UniProtKB:P39458 Gene |
ferredoxin-nitrate reductase activity GO:0047889 |
Core Supported
The GO molecular function is reflected in core_functions (exact term or a reviewed subclass). |
| nirA_activity | NirA UniProtKB:P39661 Gene |
ferredoxin-nitrite reductase activity GO:0048307 |
Core Supported
The GO molecular function is reflected in core_functions (exact term or a reviewed subclass). |
| nirB_activity | NirB UniProtKB:P08201 Gene |
nitrite reductase (NADH) activity GO:0106316 |
Core Supported
The GO molecular function is reflected in core_functions (exact term or a reviewed subclass). |
| glnA_activity | GlnA UniProtKB:P0A9C5 Gene |
glutamine synthetase activity GO:0004356 |
Core Supported
The GO molecular function is reflected in core_functions (exact term or a reviewed subclass). |
| gltB_activity | GltB UniProtKB:P09831 Gene |
glutamate synthase (NADPH) activity GO:0004355 |
Annotation Supported
A retained annotation or curated replacement supports this function, but core_functions does not yet reflect it. |
| ureC_activity | UreC UniProtKB:P18314 Gene |
urease activity GO:0009039 |
Core Supported
The GO molecular function is reflected in core_functions (exact term or a reviewed subclass). |
6 complete review(s) · 0 with deep research · 19 missing review · 6 reviewed but lacking deep research
| Gene | Review | Complete | Deep research |
|---|---|---|---|
| glnA P0A9C5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| gltB P09831 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| narB P39458 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| nirA P39661 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| nirB P08201 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| NifH (nitrogenase Fe protein) P00458 | ✗ | — | — |
| NifD (MoFe protein alpha) P07328 | ✗ | — | — |
| NifK (MoFe protein beta) P07329 | ✗ | — | — |
| NarG P09152 | ✗ | — | — |
| NrfA P0ABK9 | ✗ | — | — |
| NirS P24474 | ✗ | — | — |
| NirK P25006 | ✗ | — | — |
| NorB P98008 | ✗ | — | — |
| AmoA Q04507 | ✗ | — | — |
| AmoB Q04508 | ✗ | — | — |
| HDH Q1PW30 | ✗ | — | — |
| HzsA Q1Q0T2 | ✗ | — | — |
| HzsG Q1Q0T3 | ✗ | — | — |
| HzsB Q1Q0T4 | ✗ | — | — |
| HAO Q50925 | ✗ | — | — |
| NorC Q51662 | ✗ | — | — |
| NosZ Q51705 | ✗ | — | — |
| NapA Q56350 | ✗ | — | — |
| AmoC Q82W83 | ✗ | — | — |
| ureC P18314 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
Taxon-neutral sketch. A species-specific realization selects one variant per variant set (e.g. NirS vs NirK), grounds the NXR leaf to a concrete exemplar, and may add accessory/maturation and regulatory subunits (nifEN, nosDFYL, ntrBC/narXL) that are intentionally omitted from this marker-enzyme seed. Subunit-grounding convention: a step modeled as a PROTEIN_COMPLEX grounds the experimentally characterized catalytic-and-structural subunits as active_units (nitrogenase NifHDK, AMO AmoABC, NOR NorBC, HZS HzsABG); single-subunit enzymes ground one exemplar. Mono-subunit alternates (e.g. assimilatory NasA) and electron-partner proteins (e.g. HAO-linked cytochrome c-554 / CycA) are deferred to species realizations rather than added to this seed.
Reduces N2 to 2 NH3 with obligate ATP hydrolysis and an H2-evolution side reaction. Strongly O2-sensitive; many implementations add protection or temporal/spatial separation.
Aerobic oxidation of ammonia to nitrate, classically split between ammonia-oxidizers (AOB/AOA: NH3 -> NO2-) and nitrite-oxidizers (NOB: NO2- -> NO3-); comammox organisms run the whole chain.
Abstract leaf: needs a concrete UniProt/PTN exemplar once a reviewed NXR entry is available.
NirS and NirK are convergent, mutually exclusive solutions to the same NO2- -> NO step; their distribution partitions denitrifiers.
The only known biological N2O sink; loss or truncation of nosZ makes a denitrifier a net N2O emitter.
Fermentative/respiratory branch that retains nitrogen as ammonium instead of releasing N gases; competes with denitrification for nitrite.
Comproportionation of ammonium and nitrite to N2 via the hydrazine intermediate, within the anammoxosome organelle of Planctomycetes.
Representative organic-N mineralization step returning fixed nitrogen to ammonia; ureolysis is the canonical example.