Bacterial nitrite oxidizer

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an isolated bacterium or bacterial strain capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the 16S rDNA of the bacterium or bacterial strain has the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, or a variant thereof which is at least 95% similar to SEQ ID NO:1.
The invention is also intended to include nucleic acid sequences and bacteria with sequences which are at least 90% similar, preferably 95% similar, most preferably 99% similar to SEQ ID NO:1.
For the purposes of this application, "95% similar" means that single base substitutions may occur of up to 5% of the bases.
By "99% similar" is meant that single base substitutions may occur of up to 1% of the bases.
In one preferred embodiment, the bacterium or bacterial strain will be in the form of a biologically pure culture of a bacterial strain capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mixture which includes a culture of concentrated bacteria capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a method of alleviating the accumulation of nitrite in a medium.
The method comprises the addition to the medium of a bacterium or bacterial strain capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a probe which can be used to detect and determine the quantity of bacteria capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a biologically pure culture of a bacterial strain capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate, wherein the 16S rDNA of the bacterial strain has a nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mixture comprising a concentrated bacteria capable of oxidizing nitrite to nitrate, wherein the 16S rDNA of the bacteria has a nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.
A further aspect of the present invention is a method of alleviating the accumulation of nitrite in a water-containing medium