• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Nitrogen Fixation by Extracts of Mycobacterium flavum 301 : Use of Natural Electron Donors and Oxygen‐Sensitivity of Cell‐Free Preparations : Use of Natural Electron Donors and Oxygen‐Sensitivity of Cell‐Free Preparations
  • Contributor: Biggins, David R.; Postgate, John R.
  • imprint: Wiley, 1971
  • Published in: European Journal of Biochemistry
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1971.tb01330.x
  • ISSN: 0014-2956; 1432-1033
  • Keywords: Biochemistry
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:p> <jats:list list-type="explicit-label"> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Crude extracts of lactate‐grown <jats:italic>Mycobacterium flavum</jats:italic> 301 reduced acetylene to ethylene with NADH as electron donor provided benzyl viologen was present; ATP was required. Lactate, pyruvate, H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> or glucose‐6‐phosphate were also active donors <jats:italic>via</jats:italic> appropriate dehydrogenases.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Crude extracts also reduced cyanide to methane with NADH, ATP and benzyl viologen.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Debris (composed of wall and membrane fragments) had lactic, pyruvic and NADH dehydrogenase activities. They reduced acetylene with sodium dithionite or NADH. Benzyl viologen was not required with NADH; ATP and O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> inhibited the reaction.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Crude extracts were as sensitive to inactivation by oxygen as extracts from anaerobic bacteria. Glutathione decreased and ATP increased oxygen‐sensitivity.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p>Debris preparations were not inactivated by oxygen.</jats:p></jats:list-item> <jats:list-item><jats:p>These results suggest that the nitrogen‐fixing system of <jats:italic>M. flavum</jats:italic> 301 resembles those of other aerobes, but that its mechanisms for protecting nitrogenase from oxygen are more primitive.</jats:p></jats:list-item> </jats:list> </jats:p>
  • Access State: Open Access