 The ability to metabolise compounds of hydrogen and sulfur, such as thiosulfate has led to the microbe being exploited as a model organism for the study of poorly characterized sulfur compound transformations.The denitrification properties of "Paracoccus denitrificans" are an important cause for the loss of nitrogen fertilisers in agricultural soil.This is possible due to the chemical process called "denitrification" in which nitrogen is converted to dinitrogen to produce nitric oxide and nitrous oxide which cause damage to the atmosphere.