Influence of volatile fatty acids on nitrite accumulation by a Pseudomonas stutzeri strain isolated from a denitrifying fluidized bed reactor

Intermediate nitrite accumulation during denitrification by Pseudomonas stutzeri isolated from a denitrifying fluidized bed reactor was examined in the presence of different volatile fatty acids. Nitrite accumulated when acetate or propionate served as the carbon and electron source but did not accumulate in the presence of butyrate, valerate, or caproate. Nitrite accumulation in the presence of acetate was caused by differences in the rates of nitrate and nitrite reduction and, in addition, by competition between nitrate and nitrite reduction pathways for electrons. Incubation of the cells with butyrate resulted in a slower nitrate reduction rate and a faster nitrite reduction rate than incubation with acetate. Whereas nitrate inhibited the nitrite reduction rate in the presence of acetate, no such inhibition was found in butyrate-supplemented cells. Cytochromes b and c were found to mediate electron transport during nitrate reduction by the cells. Cytochrome c was reduced via a different pathway when nitrite-reducing cells were incubated with acetate than when they were incubated with butyrate. Furthermore, addition of antimycin A to nitrite-reducing cells resulted in partial inhibition of electron transport to cytochrome c in acetate- supplemented cells but not in butyrate-supplemented cells. On the basis of these findings, we propose that differences in intermediate nitrite accumulation are caused by differences in electron flow to nitrate and nitrite reductases during oxidation of either acetate or butyrate.