1. Department of Microbiology, IWWR, Radboud University Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, the Netherlands
2. CNRS UMR 8030 and Genoscope, 2 rue Gaston Crémieux CP 5706, 91057 Evry, France
3. Department of Genome Oriented Bioinformatics, Technische Universität München, Am Forum 1, 85354 Freising, Germany
4. Department of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
5. Institut für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Hygiene, Universität Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
6. Center for Molecular and Biomolecular Informatics, Nijmegen Center for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands
7. Kluyver Laboratory for Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands
8. Lehrstuhl für Rechnertechnik und Rechnerorganisation, Parallelrechnerarchitektur, Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany
9. Institute for Bioinformatics, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, Ingolstädter Landstrasse 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany

Correspondence to: Mike S. M. Jetten^1,7Michael Wagner⁴ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.S.M.J. (Email: m.jetten@science.ru.nl) or M.W. (Email: wagner@microbial-ecology.net).

Abstract

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) has become a main focus in oceanography and wastewater treatment^{1, 2}. It is also the nitrogen cycle's major remaining biochemical enigma. Among its features, the occurrence of hydrazine as a free intermediate of catabolism^{3, 4}, the biosynthesis of ladderane lipids^{5, 6} and the role of cytoplasm differentiation⁷ are unique in biology. Here we use environmental genomics^{8, 9}—the reconstruction of genomic data directly from the environment—to assemble the genome of the uncultured anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis¹⁰ from a complex bioreactor community. The genome data illuminate the evolutionary history of the Planctomycetes and allow us to expose the genetic blueprint of the organism's special properties. Most significantly, we identified candidate genes responsible for ladderane biosynthesis and biological hydrazine metabolism, and discovered unexpected metabolic versatility.

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