Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.7.1.2 (nitrate reductase)
 3,861 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

NifQ- and Mol- mutants of Klebsiella pneumoniae show an elevated molybdenum requirement for nitrogen fixation. Substitution of cystine for sulfate as the sulfur source in the medium reduced the molybdenum requirement of these mutants to levels required by the wild type. Cystine also increased the intracellular molybdenum accumulation of NifQ- and Mol- mutants. Cystine did not affect the molybdenum requirement or accumulation in wild-type K. pneumoniae. Sulfate transport and metabolism in K. pneumoniae were repressed by cystine. However, the effect of cystine on the molybdenum requirement could not be explained by an interaction between sulfate and molybdate at the transport level. Cystine increased the molybdenum requirement of Mol- mutants for nitrate reductase activity by at least 100-fold. Cystine had the same effect on the molybdenum requirement for nitrate reductase activity in Escherichia coli ChlD- mutants. This shows that cystine does not have a generalized effect on molybdenum metabolism. Millimolar concentrations of molybdate inhibited nitrogenase and nitrate reductase derepression with sulfate as the sulfur source, but not with cystine. The inhibition was the result of a specific antagonism of sulfate metabolism by molybdate. The effects of nifQ and mol mutations on nitrogenase could be suppressed either by the addition of cystine or by high concentrations of molybdate. This suggests that a sulfur donor and molybdenum interact at an early step in the biosynthesis of the iron-molybdenum cofactor. This interaction might occur nonenzymatically when the levels of the reactants are high.
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PMID:Biosynthesis of the iron-molybdenum cofactor and the molybdenum cofactor in Klebsiella pneumoniae: effect of sulfur source. 390 65

Some sulfate reducing bacteria can induce nitrate reductase when grown on nitrate containing media being involved in dissimilatory reduction of nitrate, an important step of the nitrogen cycle. Previously, it was reported the purification of the first soluble nitrate reductase from a sulfate-reducing bacteria Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 27774 (S.A. Bursakov, M.-Y. Liu, W.J. Payne, J. LeGall, I. Moura, and J.J.G. Moura (1995) Anaerobe 1, 55-60). The present work provides further information about this monomeric periplasmic nitrate reductase (Dd NAP). It has a molecular mass of 74 kDa, 18.6 U specific activity, KM (nitrate) = 32 microM and a pHopt in the range 8-9.5. Dd NAP has peculiar properties relatively to ionic strength and cation/anion activity responses. It is shown that monovalent cations (potassium and sodium) stimulate NAP activity and divalent (magnesium and calcium) inhibited it. Sulfate anion also acts as an activator in KPB buffer. NAP native form is protected by phosphate anion from cyanide inactivation. In the presence of phosphate, cyanide even stimulates NAP activity (up to 15 mM). This effect was used in the purification procedure to differentiate between nitrate and nitrite reductase activities, since the later is effectively blocked by cyanide. Ferricyanide has an inhibitory effect at concentrations higher than 1 mM. The N-terminal amino acid sequence has a cysteine motive C-X2-C-X3-C that is most probably involved in the coordination of the [4Fe-4S] center detected by EPR spectroscopy. The active site of the enzyme consists in a molybdopterin, which is capable for the activation of apo-nit-1 nitrate reductase of Neurospora crassa. The oxidized product of the pterin cofactor obtained by acidic hidrolysis of native NAP with sulfuric acid was identified by HPLC chromatography and characterized as a molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (MGD).
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PMID:Enzymatic properties and effect of ionic strength on periplasmic nitrate reductase (NAP) from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 27774. 936 52

In Neurospora crassa, the nit-3 gene, which encodes nitrate reductase, an enzyme required for the utilization of inorganic nitrate, is subject to a high degree of genetic and metabolic regulation as a member of the nitrogen control circuit. The nit-3 gene promoter contains binding sites for a globally acting protein NIT2 and a pathway-specific protein NIT4. Expression of the nit-3 gene absolutely requires both the NIT2 and NIT4 transcription factors and only occurs under conditions of nitrogen source derepression and nitrate induction. In the sulfur control circuit, the cys-14 gene encodes sulfate permease II, which facilitates the assimilation of sulfate. Expression of cys-14 is strongly regulated by only a single positive-acting factor, CYS3. It was of interest to determine whether NIT2 or NIT4 alone was capable of turning on the expression of cys-14, since this structural gene is normally controlled by only one regulatory protein. NIT2- and/or NIT4-binding elements were introduced into the promoter of a wild-type cys-14 gene and these constructs were transformed into a cys-13(-) cys-14(-) mutant strain and into a nit-2(-) mutant host. We examined whether any of these cys-14 genes in these transformants could now be controlled as a nitrogen-regulated gene. Sulfate permease assays revealed that both NIT2 and NIT4 were required for cys-14 expression upon nitrate induction, while neither alone activated any detectable cys-14 expression. We thus conclude that neither NIT2 nor NIT4 is capable alone of activating gene expression in this context, but together they can cooperate to elicit strong activation.
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PMID:Cooperative action of the NIT2 and NIT4 transcription factors upon gene expression in Neurospora crassa. 1258 65

Cadmium (Cd(2+)) or copper (Cu(2+)) ions are toxic for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii growth, at 300 microM, and the alga may accumulate about 0.90+/-0.02 and 0.64+/-0.02% of its dry weight, respectively. Metal contamination changes the elemental composition of dried alga biomass, which indicates the possibility to use C. reinhardtii as biosensor and bioremediator of the aquatic contamination by heavy metals. Either, Cd(2+) or Cu(2+), inhibits about 20% of the nitrate consumption rate by the cells, while only Cd(2+) increases about 40% the sulfate consumption rate. The presence of 1 mM calcium (Ca(2+)) in the culture medium increases the C. reinhardtii productivity (about 50%), the nitrate uptake rate (about 20%) and the sulfate uptake rate (about 30%). In addition, Ca(2+) overcomes the Cd(2+) (300 microM) toxicity by decreasing (about 35%) the intracellular accumulation of metal. Sulfur-starvation induces in C. reinhardtii the expression of serine acetyltransferase and O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase activities, but decreases 50% the consumption rate of nitrate by the cells. Sulfate is also required for the full expression of the nitrate reductase (NR), nitrite reductase (NiR) and glutamate synthase activities.
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PMID:Metal toxicity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Effect on sulfate and nitrate assimilation. 1291 98

Nitrate assimilation in autotrophs provides most of the reduced nitrogen on earth. In eukaryotes, reduction of nitrate to nitrite is catalyzed by the molybdenum-containing NAD(P)H:nitrate reductase (NR; EC 1.7.1.1-3). In addition to the molybdenum center, NR contains iron-heme and flavin adenine dinucleotide as redox cofactors involved in an internal electron transport chain from NAD(P)H to nitrate. Recombinant, catalytically active Pichia angusta nitrate-reducing, molybdenum-containing fragment (NR-Mo) was expressed in P. pastoris and purified. Crystal structures for NR-Mo were determined at 1.7 and 2.6 angstroms. These structures revealed a unique slot for binding nitrate in the active site and identified key Arg and Trp residues potentially involved in nitrate binding. Dimeric NR-Mo is similar in overall structure to sulfite oxidases, with significant differences in the active site. Sulfate bound in the active site caused conformational changes, as compared with the unbound enzyme. Four ordered water molecules located in close proximity to Mo define a nitrate binding site, a penta-coordinated reaction intermediate, and product release. Because yeast NAD(P)H:NR is representative of the family of eukaryotic NR, we propose a general mechanism for nitrate reduction catalysis.
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PMID:Structural basis of eukaryotic nitrate reduction: crystal structures of the nitrate reductase active site. 1577 87

To investigate the regulatory interactions between S assimilation and N metabolism in Brassica napus, de novo synthesis of amino acids and proteins was quantified by (15)N and (34)S tracing, and the responses of transporter genes, assimilatory enzymes and metabolites pool involving in nitrate and sulfate metabolism were assessed under continuous sulfur supply, sulfur deprivation and sulfate resupply after 3 days of sulfur (S) deprivation. S-deprived plants were characterized by a strong induction of sulfate transporter genes, ATP sulfurylase (ATPS) and adenosine 5'-phosphosulfate reductase (APR), and by a repressed activity of nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS). Sulfate resupply to the S-deprived plants strongly increased cysteine, amino acids and proteins concentration. The increase in sulfate and cysteine concentration caused by sulfate resupply was not matched with the expression of sulfate transporters and the activity of ATPS and APR which were rapidly decreased by sulfate resupply. A strong induction of O-acetylserine(thiol)lyase (OASTL), NR and GS upon sulfate resupply was accompanied with the increase in cysteine, amino acids and proteins pool. Sulfate resupply resulted in a strong increase in de novo synthesis of amino acids and proteins, as evidenced by the increases in N and S incorporation into amino acids (1.8- and 2.4-fold increase) and proteins (2.2-and 6.3-fold increase) when compared to S-deprived plants. The results thus indicate that sulfate resupply followed by S-deprivation accelerates nitrate assimilation for protein synthesis.
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PMID:Sulfate resupply accentuates protein synthesis in coordination with nitrogen metabolism in sulfur deprived Brassica napus. 2552 20