without a partner organism via reverse methanogenesis with nitrate as the terminal electron acceptor, using genes for nitrate reduction that have been laterally transferred from a bacterial donor. This was also the first complete reverse methanogenesis pathway including the mcr and mer genes. In 2010, omics, especially metagenomics, analysis showed that nitrite reduction can be coupled to methane oxidation by a single bacterial species Candidatus Methylomirabilis oxyfera (phylum NC10), without the need for an archaeal partner. Environmental relevance AOM is considered to be a very important process reducing the emission of the greenhouse gas methane from the ocean into the atmosphere. It is estimated that almost 80% of all the methane that arises from marine sediments is oxidized anaerobically by this process. See also Borg (microbiology) References Bibliography Dennis D. Coleman; J. Bruno Risatti; Martin Schoell (1981) Fractionation of carbon and hydrogen isotopes by methane-oxidizing bacteria | Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |Volume 45, Issue 7, July 1981, Pages 1033-1037 |https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(81)90129-0 | abstract External links Methane Limnology