The genetic heterogeneity of the nitrite reductase gene (nirK and nirS) fragments from denitrifying prokaryotes in a non-agricultural forest soil in Thailand was investigated using soil samples from the Plant Germplasm-Royal Initiation Project area in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. Soil bacteria were screened for denitrification activity and 13 (from 211) positive isolates were obtained and f...

To determine the potential of DNA array technology for assessing functional gene diversity and distribution, a prototype microarray was constructed with genes involved in nitrogen cycling: nitrite reductase (nirS and nirK) genes, ammonia mono-oxygenase (amoA) genes, and methane mono-oxygenase (pmoA) genes from pure cultures and those cloned from marine sediments. In experiments using glass slid...

Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America, can be characterized as having steep and opposing gradients in salinity and dissolved inorganic nitrogen along the main axis of the Bay. In this study, the diversity of nirS gene fragments (encoding cytochrome cd 1-type nitrite reductase), physical/chemical parameters, and benthic N2-fluxes were analyzed in order to determine how denitrifier...

The C-terminal segment of copper-containing nitrite reductase from Achromobacter cycloclastes (AcNiR) has been found essential for maintaining both the quaternary structure and the enzyme activity of AcNiR. C-terminal despentapeptide AcNiR (NiRc-5) and desundecapeptide AcNiR (NiRc-11) are two important truncated mutants whose activities and stability have been affected by residue deletion. In t...

Paracoccus pantotrophus cytochrome cd(1) nitrite reductase is isolated under aerobic conditions from anaerobically grown cells in an inactive form. This state requires reductive activation to make it catalytically competent for nitrite reduction. In this work, we discuss the methods of this reductive activation and its consequences for the cell.

Cytochrome cd1 nitrite reductase is a bifunctional multiheme enzyme catalyzing the one-electron reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide and the four-electron reduction of dioxygen to water. Kinetics and thermodynamics of the internal electron transfer process in the Pseudomonas stutzeri enzyme have been studied and found to be dominated by pronounced interactions between the c and the d1 hemes. Th...

The onset and cessation of the synthesis of denitrification enzymes of Pseudomonas stutzeri were investigated by using continuous culture and defined dissolved oxygen levels covering the full range of transition from air saturation to complete anaerobiosis. Expression of nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase (cytochrome cd1), and N2O reductase was controlled by discrete oxygen levels and by the ...

Nitrite reduction by a copper complex featuring a proton-responsive tripodal ligand is demonstrated. Gaseous nitric oxide was confirmed as the sole NO X by-product in quantitative yield. DFT calculations predict that nitrite reduction occurs via a proton and electron transfer process mediated by the ligand. The reported mechanism parallels nitrite reduction by copper nitrite reductase.

Data regarding the role of oxygen in nitrite reduction are presented. In an NADPH-generating system including homogeneously purified ferredoxin-NADP reductase, ferredoxin (or flavodoxin) and nitrite reductase from the alga Bumilleriopsis filiformis, oxygen and nitrite can be reduced simultaneously. In air, rates of 1.2 mumol nitrite reduced-min-1-mg-1 nitrite reductase are obtained, which are p...

Disease of the coronary arteries, by commoner occurrence or by more frequent diagnosis, is assuming increasing importance in clinical medicine. The following case is reported because it shows some interesting features, and full clinical, cardiographic, and pathological investigation was possible. A schoolmaster, aged 55, was admitted to hospital on November 16, 1941, with a three weeks' history...