Nitrite reductases respiration

Fe Cytochrome oxidase reduction of oxygen to water Cytochrome P-450 0-insertion from O2, and detoxification Cytochromes b and c electron transport in respiration and photosynthesis Cytochrome f photosynthetic electron transport Ferredoxin electron transport in photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation Iron-sulfur proteins electron transport in respiration and photosynthesis Nitrate and nitrite reductases reduction to ammonium... 

Bacterial assimilatory nitrate reductases have similar properties.86/86a In addition, many bacteria, including E. coli, are able to use nitrate ions as an oxidant for nitrate respiration under anaerobic conditions (Chapter 18). Tire dissimilatory nitrate reductases involved also contain molybdenum as well as Fe-S centers.85 Tire E. coli enzyme receives electrons from reduced quinones in the plasma membrane, passing them through cytochrome b, Fe-S centers, and molybdopterin to nitrate. The three-subunit aPy enzyme contains cytochrome b in one subunit, an Fe3S4 center as well as three Fe4S4 clusters in another, and the molybdenum cofactor in the third.87 Nitrate reduction to nitrite is also on the pathway of denitrification, which can lead to release of nitrogen as NO, NzO, and N2 by the action of dissimi-latory nitrite reductases. These enzymes873 have been discussed in Chapters 16 and 18. 

Surprisingly, its biological redox partners remain largely unknown. It has been implicated in anaerobic nitrite respiration and it has been shown that azurin can donate electrons to nitrite reductase, a function that is proposed to be carried out by another cupredoxin, pseudoazurin (see Section IV, E). On the other hand, azurin is not an inducible protein and denitrifying bacteria express azurin constitutively under aerobic conditions. 

Nitrite reductases, 698 denitrifying, 727 dissimilatory, 726 reduction to ammonia, 725 respiration, 717 Nitrites reduction, 725 Nitro compounds arenes... 

Nitrate reductases are found in a wide range of eukaryotes and prokaryotes and have a crucial role in nitrogen assimilation and dissimilation (see Chapter 8.14). These enzymes catalyze the reaction shown in Equation (5) for the assimilatory nitrate reductases, this is followed by the reduction of nitrite to ammonia. Dissimilatory nitrate reductases [142 147] catalyze the reduction of nitrate to nitrite for respiration, to generate a transmembrane potential gradient.The assimilatory nitrate reductases have a molybdenum center similar to that of sulfite oxidase (see... 

Dissimilatory nitrite reductase of denitrifying bacteria is usually a soluble enzyme and it has been difficult to ascribe a phosphorylative function associated with the conversion of nitrite to nitric oxide. However, the demonstration by Wood (1978) that the terminal reductase in nitrite respiration is located in the periplasm implies that electrons generated in the cytoplasm must traverse the cytoplasmic membrane to the periplasmic nitrite reduction site. This location would require proton pumping, thus facilitating phosphorylation by the chemiosmotic mechanism. 

Dissimilatory nitrite reductases (NiR) play a pivotal role in the anaerobic respiration cascade of denitrifying bacteria, archaea and fungi by catalysing the first committed step of the pathway.The net reaction of NiR yields the conversion of nitrite (N02 ) into gaseous nitric oxide (NO) and water (H2O) (eqn (3.12) ref. 207) ... 

All plants depend on nitrate reductase to accomplish the seemingly trivial reaction of nitrate reduction to nitrite, often the first step of nitrogen assimilation into compounds required for growth (5, 22). Many bacteria use molybdenum or tungsten enzymes in anaerobic respiration where the terminal electron acceptor is a reducible molecule other than oxygen, such as nitrate (2, 50), polysulfide (51), trimethylamine oxide (33, 52) or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (2, 29, 30). 

In the heterotrophic nitrate respiration, in most cases hydrogen atoms derived from organic compounds ([H], mostly in the form of NADH in the case of heterotrophic denitriliers) are first oxidized with nitrate. The reaction is catalyzed by nitrate reductase. The enzyme contains Mo, [Fe4S4] and [Fe2S2] clusters (Fe/S), and cytochrome b (Chaudhry and MacGregor, 1983). Mo is present in the enzyme as molybdenum cofactors combining with molybdopterin or molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide. The enzyme catalyzes the reduction of nitrate to nitrite with ubiquinol or menaquinol (QH2) as the electron donor. 

Certain bacteria can utilize nitrate nitrogen as the sole nitrogen source for the synthesis of all nitrogen containing compounds of the cell (Payne, 1973). This nitrate assimilation can occur under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In other instances (Payne, 1973) nitrate serves as a terminal hydrogen acceptor under anaerobic conditions and this process is called nitrate respiration. In both cases the product of nitrate reduction is nitrite. The nitrate reductases from bacteria have been differentiated by Pichinoty and Piechaud (1968) into nitrate reductase A which is membrane bound and can reduce chlorate in addition to nitrate as a substrate and nitrate reductase B which is... 

A number of different enzymes can carry out the reduction of nitrite to either ammonium or nitric oxide and/or nitrous oxide. The latter types are involved with the denitrification process (Payne, 1973) and will not be considered here. Among the enzymes that catalyze the six-electron reduction of nitrite to ammonia, several different types are recognized. These are (I) assimilatory NiRs that function in biosynthetic nitrate assimilation of higher plants, algae, and fungi, (2) ammonia-forming dissimilatory NiRs involved in anaerobic nitrate respiration of diverse bacteria, and (3) assimilatory and dissimilatory sulfite reductases... 

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