identifier: traitmech:000122
label: nitrate respiration
definition: A nitrogen respiration in which nitrate is the terminal electron acceptor,
  reduced to nitrite or further reduced products.
definition_source: DOI:10.1126/science.aaf4507
trait_category: METABOLISM
term_kind: CLASS
mapping_status: PROPOSED
parent_traits:
- traitmech:000121
- traitmech:000134
synonyms:
- synonym_text: nitrate_respiration
  synonym_type: RELATED_SYNONYM
  source: DOI:10.1126/science.aaf4507
evidence:
- reference: DOI:10.1126/science.1254070
  snippet: Denitrification converts nitrate into nitrogenous gas and thus removes
    fixed nitrogen from the biosphere, whereas ammonification converts nitrate into
    ammonium
  notes: Kraft et al. support nitrate respiration as a bacterial nitrogen-oxide respiration
    branch with denitrification or DNRA endpoints.
curation_history:
- timestamp: '2026-09-08T00:00:00Z'
  curator: codex
  action: PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH
  changes: Proposed a DOI-backed FAPROTAX metabolic capability from proposals/metpo_traitmech_v11
    after repository-wide duplicate review.
  llm_assisted: true