"Stoutman" [email protected] wrote in message m...
Patterson wrote this very early on:"I don't know how they work, but the goal
is to turn the nitrates (NO3) into
gaseous nitrogen and oxygen."

Gaseous nitrogen and oxygen to 'me' mean O2 and N2.
Do you STILL think he is right?

Isn't it that the gaseous nitrogen is released as
not usable byproduct but the oxygen is fixed in the respiration
process and goes through the bacteria body later released
as water ?
Bacteria needs oxygen, but oxygen is not available in gaseous
form, so it uses it as a part of nitrates ion and is able to
tear apart the nitrates ion to grab oxygen for itself and
release not-needed nitrogen.

I think similar process is when there is a cyanobacteria
in a nitrates poor environment - they can get nitrogen
needed in biological processes to fix amino-acids from
gaseous form and other bacteria and plant need nitrates
or ammonia since they are unable to fix nitrogen from air.