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The production and utilization of nitric oxide by a new, denitrifying strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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Abstract

When a new strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was grown aerobically and then transferred to anaerobic conditions, cells reduced NO 3 quantitatively to NO 2 in NO 3 -respiration. In the absence of nitrate, NO 2 was immediately reduced to NO or N2O but not to N2 indicating that NO 2 -reductase but not N2O-reductase was active. The formation of the products NO or N2O depended on the pH in the medium and the concentration of NO 2 present. When P. aeruginosa was grown anaerobically for at least three davs N2O-reductase was also active. Such cells reduced NO to N2 via N2O. The new strain generated a H+-gradient and grew by reducing N2O to N2 but not by converting NO to N2O. For comparison, Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 showed the same pattern of NO-reduction. In contrast, Paracoccus denitrificans formed 3.5 H+/NO during the reduction of NO to N2O in oxidant pulse experiments but could not grow in the presence of NO. Thus the NO-reduction pattern in P. denitrificans on one side and P. aeruginosa and A. brasilense on the other was very different. The mechanistic implications of such differences are discussed.

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Voßwinkel, R., Neidt, I. & Bothe, H. The production and utilization of nitric oxide by a new, denitrifying strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Arch. Microbiol. 156, 62–69 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00418189

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00418189

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