Abstract
NITRATE is the major source of nitrogen for most green plants and fungi and may also be used by certain microorganisms as a terminal electron acceptor in place of oxygen under anaerobic conditions. The enzymes responsible for the first step in nitrate assimilation and for nitrate respiration are the nitrate reductases, both these processes involving the conversion of nitrate to nitrite. The nitrate reductases require molybdenum both for their formation and activity1,2. Chemical tests have indicated that during the enzymatic reduction of nitrate to nitrite, the oxidation state change undergone by the molybdenum present in the enzyme from Neurospora crassa involves Mo(V) and Mo(VI)3 and ESR spectroscopic studies have strongly suggested that the nitrate is directly bound to the Mo(V) centre of the enzyme from Micrococcus denitrificans before reduction4. Therefore we have investigated whether simple molybdenum(V) complexes are able to reduce nitrate to nitrite. This has been attempted previously and either no reduction of nitrate was detected3,5 or reduction occurred to yield nitric oxide as the major product6. Similarly, molybdenum-catalysed reductions of nitrate have produced at the most only traces of nitrite7–9.
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GARNER, C., HYDE, M., MABBS, F. et al. Possible model reactions for the nitrate reductases. Nature 252, 579–580 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252579a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252579a0
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