Revisiting methane-dependent denitrification.

Methane-dependent denitrification links the global nitrogen and methane cycles. Since its initial discovery in 2006, this process has been understood to involve a division of labor between an archaeal group and a bacterial group, which sequentially perform nitrate and nitrite reduction, respectively. Yao et al. have now revised this paradigm by identifying a Methylomirabilis bacterium capable of performing methane-dependent complete denitrification on its own.