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Photoproduction of ammonium ion from N2 inRhodospirillum rubrum

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Abstract

NH +4 excretion was undetectable in N2-fixing cultures ofRhodospirillum rubrum (S-1) and nitrogenase activity in these cultures was repressed by the addition of 10 mM NH +4 to the medium. The glutamate analog,l-methionine-dl-sulfoximine (MSX), derepressed N2 fixation even in the presence of 10 mM extracellular NH +4 . When 10 mg MSX/ml was added to cultures just prior to nitrogenase induction they developed nitrogenase activity (20% of the control activities) and excreted most of their fixed N2 as NH +4 . Nitrogenase activities and NH +4 production from fixed N2 were increased considerably when a combined nitrogen source, NH +4 (>40 μmoles NH +4 /mg cell protein in 6 days) orl-glutamate (>60 μmoles NH +4 /mg cell protein in 6 days) was added to the cultures together with MSX.

Biochemical analysis revealed thatR. rubrum produced glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase (NADP-dependent) but no detectable NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase. The specific activity of glutamine synthetase was observed to be maximal when nitrogenase activity was also maximal. Nitrogenase and glutamine synthetase activities were repressed by NH +4 as well as by glutamate.

The results demonstrate that utilization of solar energy to photoproduce large quantities of NH +4 from N2 is possible with photosynthetic bacteria by interfering with their regulatory control of N2 fixation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California, San Diego, 92037, La Jolla, California, USA

    N. M. Weare

  2. Plant Growth Laboratory/Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, 95616, Davis, California, USA

    K. T. Shanmugam

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  1. N. M. Weare
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  2. K. T. Shanmugam
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Weare, N.M., Shanmugam, K.T. Photoproduction of ammonium ion from N2 inRhodospirillum rubrum . Arch. Microbiol. 110, 207–213 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00690229

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00690229

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