text: Anammox stands for anaerobic ammonia oxidation and the organisms responsible were relatively recently discovered, in the late 1990s.  This form of metabolism occurs in members of the Planctomycetota (e.g. "Candidatus Brocadia anammoxidans") and involves the coupling of ammonia oxidation to nitrite reduction.  As oxygen is not required for this process, these organisms are strict anaerobes.  Amazingly, hydrazine ( – rocket fuel) is produced as an intermediate during anammox metabolism.  To deal with the high toxicity of hydrazine, anammox bacteria contain a hydrazine-containing intracellular organelle called the anammoxasome, surrounded by highly compact (and unusual) ladderane lipid membrane.  These lipids are unique in nature, as is the use of hydrazine as a metabolic intermediate.  Anammox organisms are autotrophs although the mechanism for carbon dioxide fixation is unclear.  Because of this property, these organisms could be used to remove nitrogen in industrial wastewater treatment processes.  Anammox has also been shown to have widespread occurrence in anaerobic aquatic systems and has been speculated to account for approximately 50% of nitrogen gas production in the ocean.