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Several species of yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Debaryomyces hansenii, Candida utilis, C. albicans, C. pelliculosa and C. tropicalis, were tested for their ability to utilise different inorganic nitrogen compounds as sole sources of nitrogen, and the results are presented as a function of their growth. All of them grew well on reduced nitrogenous compounds such as ammonium sulphate (ammonia) and L-asparagine, while only C. utilis and C. pelliculosa grew, at a slower rate, on oxidised nitrogenous compounds, nitrate and nitrite. The differences observed in the ability of various yeasts to assimilate the inorganic nitrogen compounds are believed to reflect their individuals abilities to regulate the uptake rates of potentially toxic compounds and keep them in a bound/transient state until reduced to less toxic and more-readily assimilable forms.
In natural and man-made ecosystems nitrifying bacteria experience frequent exposure to oxygen-limited conditions and thus have to compete for oxygen. In several reactor systems (retentostat, chemostat and sequencing batch reactors) it was possible to establish co-cultures of aerobic ammonium- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria at very low oxygen concentrations (2-8 microM) provided that ammonium was the limiting N compound. When ammonia was in excess of oxygen, the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were washed out of the reactors, and ammonium was converted to mainly nitrite, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide by Nitrosomonas-related bacteria. The situation could be rapidly reversed by adjusting the oxygen to ammonium ratio in the reactor. In batch and continuous tests, no inhibitory effect of ammonium, nitric oxide or nitrous oxide on nitrite-oxidizing bacteria could be detected in our studies. The recently developed oxygen microsensors may be helpful to determine the kinetic parameters of the nitrifying bacteria, which are needed to make predictive kinetic models of their competition.
Anabaena cylindrica grown with nitrate required higher levels of sodium (0.4 meq/l NaCl) to prevent chlorosis than when grown without combined nitrogen (0.004 meq/l NaCl). Nitrite accumulated in sodium-deficient cultures containing nitrate. Amounts of nitrite similar to those found in deficient cultures when added to normal cultures resulted in a chlorosis of the cells. Thus loss of chlorophyll was caused by nitrite toxicity.A deficiency of sodium resulted in an increased incorporation of (15)NO(3), (15)NO(2), (15)NH(3) or (14)C glutamate into protein compared with normal cells. The enzyme nitrate reductase was markedly increased in cells grown without sodium.Evidence from chloramphenicol treatment of the cells suggests that sodium may exert its control of nitrate reductase through a protein factor(s).By contrast, N(2) fixation was reduced in sodium deficient cells. Since the incorporation of ammonia or glutamate into protein was increased under these conditions, it is likely that the element is required for the conversion of N(2) gas into ammonia. Various nitrogenous compounds including ammonium chloride, amides and amino acids at low concentrations (0.1 mm) greatly reduced the nitrite accumulation in sodium-deficient cultures.
Shaw, Paul D. (University of Illinois, Urbana), and Nancy Wang. Biosynthesis of nitro compounds. I. Nitrogen and carbon requirements for the biosynthesis of beta-nitropropionic acid by Penicillium atrovenetum. J. Bacteriol. 88:1629-1635. 1964.-beta-Nitropropionic acid was produced by Penicillium atrovenetum when this fungus was grown on a Raulin-Thom medium in shake flasks. The nitro compound was formed in the early stages of growth, and the total amount in the medium decreased when the fungus reached the end of the log phase. When increasing amounts of nitrate were substituted for the ammonia in the growth medium, production of beta-nitropropionic acid decreased. Aspartic acid did not promote the synthesis of the nitro compound unless either ammonium chloride or sodium tartrate was also added to the medium. The addition of small amounts of hydroxylamine or sodium nitrite to the Raulin-Thom medium stimulated beta-nitropropionic acid production to a greater degree on a molar basis than the amount of hydroxylamine or nitrite added. The nature of possible precursors to the nitro group of beta-nitropropionic acid is discussed.
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Ethanol is still one of the most important products originating from the biotechnological industry with respect to both value and amount. In addition to ethanol, a number of byproducts are formed during an anaerobic fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One of the most important of these compounds, glycerol, is produced by yeast to reoxidize NADH, formed in synthesis of biomass and secondary fermentation products, to NAD+. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a reduced formation of surplus NADH and an increased consumption of ATP in biosynthesis would result in a decreased glycerol yield and an increased ethanol yield in anaerobic cultivations of S. cerevisiae. A yeast strain was constructed in which GLN1, encoding glutamine synthetase, and GLT1, encoding glutamate synthase, were overexpressed, and GDH1, encoding the NADPH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase, was deleted. Hereby the normal NADPH-consuming synthesis of glutamate from ammonium and 2-oxoglutarate was substituted by a new pathway in which ATP and NADH were consumed. The resulting strain TN19 (gdh1-A1 PGK1p-GLT1 PGK1p-GLN1) had a 10% higher ethanol yield and a 38% lower glycerol yield compared to the wild type in anaerobic batch fermentations. The maximum specific growth rate of strain TN19 was slightly lower than the wild-type value, but earlier results suggest that this can be circumvented by increasing the specific activities of Gln1p and Glt1p even more. Thus, the results verify the proposed concept of increasing the ethanol yield in S. cerevisiae by metabolic engineering of pathways involved in biomass synthesis.
Guanidino compounds are synthesized from arginine in various tissues such as liver, kidney, brain, and skeletal muscle. Guanidino compounds such as arginine and creatine play an important role in nitrogen metabolism, whereas other guanidino compounds such as guanidinosuccinic acid and alpha-N-acetylarginine are known toxins. In order to understand the changes in the metabolism of guanidino compounds during ammonia toxicity, we investigated the effect of hyperammonemia induced by an ammonium acetate injection on the levels of guanidino compounds in plasma, liver, kidney, and brain of rats. Control animals were injected with an equal volume of saline. Blood and tissues were removed 1 h following ammonium acetate or saline injection and guanidino compounds were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Plasma and kidney levels of guanidinosuccinic acid were significantly elevated in rats challenged with ammonium acetate. Brain alpha-N-acetylarginine levels were also significantly higher in rats injected with ammonium acetate as compared to those in controls. Our results suggest that guanidinosuccinic acid and alpha-N-acetylarginine may play an important role in hyperammonemia.
Addition of NH4+ to STreptomyces griseus 2682 cells grown in NO3- containing medium resulted in a rapid decline in glutamine synthetase activity due to covalent modification of the enzyme. The NH4+ promoted inactivation of the enzyme was inhibited by the ADP-ribosyltransferase inhibitor 3-methoxybenzamide. In the presence of ADP-ribosyltransferase activity the purified glutamine synthetase was also inhibited by NAD+ in a concentration-dependent manner. ADP-ribosylation of glutamine synthetase was demonstrated in vitro by showing the incorporation of labeled ADP-ribose from [alpha-32P]NAD+ into glutamine synthetase subunits. Beside ADP-ribosylation, adenylylation of glutamine synthetase was also shown in S. griseus since phosphodiesterase I treatment reactivated the enzyme in crude extracts of NH(4+)-shocked cells. Glutamine synthetase was also inhibited and modified by ATP in crude cellular extracts. These results suggest that in S. griseus 2682 ADP-ribosylation of glutamine synthetase could be an alternative modification to adenylylation to regulate glutamine synthetase activity.
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The glutamine synthetase of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 can be inactivated in vivo by ammonium addition by a new mechanism that involves the binding to the enzyme of an inactivating factor. This binding provokes a different mobility of the inactive enzyme with respect to the active form in non-denaturing PAGE, but not in SDS-PAGE. This modification of glutamine synthetase is for the first time visualized by Western blot analysis of the active and inactive forms. Cross-linking experiments using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) demonstrate the existence of two main complexes of 56 kDa and 67 kDa between the inactivating factor and the glutamine synthetase subunit (53 kDa) in the inactive but not in the active form of glutamine synthetase.
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The tobacco industry publicly contends that ammonia compounds are solely used as tobacco additive for purposes of tobacco flavoring, process conditioning and reduction of its subjective harshness and irritation. However, neither objective scientific reports, nor the contents of a large number of internal tobacco company documents support this contention. The present review focuses on the hypothesis that addition of ammonium compounds to tobacco enhances global tobacco use due to smoke alkalization and enhanced free-nicotine nicotine exposure. Obviously, ammonia enhances the alkalinity of tobacco smoke. Consequently, the equilibrium shifts from non-volatile nicotine salts to the volatile free base that is more readily absorbed from the airways. The observed change in the kinetics of nicotine (i.e., shorter t(1/2) and higher c(max)) after ammoniation is, however, predominantly due to the higher concentration of nicotine in the smoke, rather than to an increase in the absorption rate of free-base nicotine in the respiratory tract. Although several findings support the hypothesis, additional studies are required and suggested to provide a proper, objective and independent scientific judgment about the effect of tobacco ammoniation on nicotine bioavailability. Scientific and public awareness of the effects of tobacco-specific ammonia compounds may stimulate global control, legislation and restriction of their use in cigarette manufacture.