As the only enzyme currently known to reduce dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3), nitrogenase is of significant interest for bio-inspired catalyst design and for new biotechnologies aiming to produce NH3 from N2. In order to reduce N2, nitrogenase must...
Only a single enzyme system—nitrogenase—carries out the conversion of atmospheric N2 into bioavailable ammonium, an essential prerequisite for all organismic life. The reduction of this inert substrate at ambient conditions poses unique c...
Although the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase critically requires both a reductase component (Fe protein) and a catalytic component, considerably more work has focused on the latter species. Properties of the catalytic component, which contains two...
The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413 fixes nitrogen under aerobic conditions in specialized cells called heterocysts that form in response to an environmental deficiency in combined nitrogen. Nitrogen fixation is mediated by...
Nitrogenases have the remarkable ability to catalyze the reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia under physiological conditions. How does this happen? The current view of the nitrogenase mechanism focuses on the role of hydrides, the binding of dinitrogen...
The Fe protein of nitrogenase plays multiple roles in substrate reduction and metallocluster assembly. Best known for its function to transfer electrons to its catalytic partner during nitrogenase catalysis, the Fe protein is also a key player in the...
Nitrogenase, a bacteria-based enzyme, is the sole enzyme that is able to generate ammonia by atmospheric nitrogen fixation. Thus, improved understanding of its utilization and developing methods to artificially activate it may contribute to basic res...
Ammonia (NH3) has played an essential role in meeting the increasing demand for food and the worldwide need for nitrogen (N2) fertilizer since 1913. Unfortunately, the traditional Haber-Bosch process for producing NH3 from N2 is a high energy-consump...
NifS and NifU (encoded by nifS and nifU) are generally dedicated to biogenesis of the nitrogenase Fe–S cluster in diazotrophs. However, nifS and nifU are not found in N2-fixing Paenibacillus strains, and the mechanisms involved in Fe–S cluster biosyn...
Hydrogen with high energy content is considered to be a promising alternative clean energy source. Biohydrogen production through microbes provides a renewable and immense hydrogen supply by utilizing raw materials such as inexhaustible natural sunli...
The potential of cyanobacteria to perform a variety of distinct roles vital for the biosphere, including nutrient cycling and environmental detoxification, drives interest in studying their biodiversity. Increasing soil erosion and the overuse of che...
Photocatalytic nitrogen fixation under ambient conditions offers a sustainable alternative to the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process, yet remains limited by the inertness of N≡N bonds and sluggish multi-electron/proton transfer kinetics...
We have calculated redox potentials of the two metal clusters in Mo-nitrogenase with quantum mechanical (QM) calculations. We employ an approach calibrated for iron–sulfur clusters with 1–4 Fe ions, involving QM-cluster calculations in co...
Nitrogen inputs for sustainable crop production for a growing population require the enhancement of biological nitrogen fixation. Efforts to increase biological nitrogen fixation include bioprospecting for more effective nitrogen-fixing bacteria. As...
The family of nitrogenase enzymes catalyzes the reduction of atmospheric dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia under remarkably benign conditions of temperature, pressure, and pH. Therefore, the development of synthetic complexes or materials that can similarly...
Ammonia (NH3) is produced industrially by the Haber–Bosch process from dinitrogen (N2) and dihydrogen (H2) using high temperature and pressure with an iron catalyst. In contrast to the extreme conditions used in the Haber–Bosch process, b...
The phylogeny of nitrogenase has only been analyzed using the structural proteins NifHDK. As nifHDKENB has been established as the minimum number of genes necessary for in silico prediction of diazotrophy, we present an updated phylogeny of diazotrop...
The enzyme nitrogenase naturally hydrogenates N2 to NH3, achieved through the accumulation of H atoms on FeMo-co, the Fe7MoS9C(homocitrate) cluster that is the catalytically active site. Four intermediates, E1H1, E2H2, E3H3, and E4H4, carry these hyd...
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is an important and widely grown crop, and the nitrogenase reductase (nifH) gene is the most widely sequenced marker gene used to identify nitrogen-fixing bacteria and archaea. There have been many example...
The conversion of molecular nitrogen to ammonia is a key biological and chemical process and represents one of the most challenging topics in chemistry and biology. In Nature the Mo-containing nitrogenase enzymes perform nitrogen ‘fixation’ via an ir...
Nitrogen fixation plays a crucial role in the nitrogen cycle by helping to convert nitrogen into a form usable by other organisms. Bacteria capable of fixing nitrogen are found in six phyla including Cyanobacteria. Molybdenum dependent nitrogenase (n...
Biological nitrogen fixation complements nitrogen from fertilizers in crop plants under natural conditions. It also contributes to the reduction in chemical fertilizer (CF) utilization in cultivated lands, which fits the concept of sustainable agricu...
Biological nitrogen fixation catalyzed by Mo-nitrogenase of symbiotic diazotrophs has attracted interest because its potential to supply plant-available nitrogen offers an alternative way of using chemical fertilizers for sustainable agriculture. Pho...
The photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris converts nitrogen gas (N2) to fertilizer ammonia (NH3) and also produces clean energy hydrogen gas (H2) from protons (H+) when it is grown anaerobically in nitrogen fixing medium with illuminati...
Omics are the most promising approaches to investigate microbes for which no genetic tools exist such as the nitrogen-fixing symbiotic Frankia. A proteogenomic analysis of symbiotic Frankia alni was done by comparing those proteins more and less abun...
Eukaryotic organisms such as plants are unable to utilise nitrogen gas (N2) directly as a source of this essential element and are dependent either on its biological conversion to ammonium by diazotrophic prokaryotes, or its supply as chemically synt...
Homocitrate is an essential component of the iron-molybdenum cofactor of nitrogenase, the bacterial enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia. In nitrogen-fixing and nodulating alpha-rhizobia, homocitrate is usually provided t...
In this study, dual-root soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) plants, with one side nodulated and the other nonnodulated, were used as experimental materials. The nonnodulated lateral roots were treated with excessive nitrate (200 mg·L−1 nitro...
Growth and symbiotic activity of legumes are mediated by Nod factors (LCO, lipo-chitooligosaccharides). To assess the effects of application of Nod factors on symbiotic activity and yield of pea, a two-year field experiment was conducted on a Haplic...
Nitrogen–fixing bacteria execute biological nitrogen fixation through nitrogenase, converting inert dinitrogen (N2) in the atmosphere into bioavailable nitrogen. Elaborating the molecular mechanisms of orderly and efficient biological nitrogen...
Corn has shown different degrees of positive response to inoculation with the nitrogen- fixing bacteria of the genera Azospirillum. Part of it has been attributed to the plant genotypic variation, including the root exudates, that are used by the bac...
Low phosphorus (P) stress impacts nitrogen (N) metabolism in soybeans. This study investigated the effects of exogenous cytokinin (Trans-Zeatin) on soybean N metabolism under low P stress by treating seeds with Trans-Zeatin and analyzing N accumulati...
15 September 2024
In rice, symbiotic N2 fixation via nodule bacteroids does not take place naturally. Although N2 fixation by endophytic and associative diazotrophs has been reported in rice, the main organs and seasonal regulation for the N2 fixation have not been el...
Purpose: This research was aimed to screen and identify multifunctional phosphorus-dissolving bacteria of a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation and study its phosphorus-dissolving characteristics in order to provide strain resources and...
Sustainable agriculture and food security are challenged by the indiscriminate use of synthetic nitrogen (N2) fertilizers, inefficient water management, and land degradation. Hydroponic cultivation uses nutrient-rich aqueous media and is a climate-re...
Rhodoferax antarcticus is an Antarctic purple nonsulfur bacterium and the only characterized anoxygenic phototroph that grows best below 20 °C. We present here a high-quality draft genome of Rfx. antarcticus strain ANT.BRT, isolated from an Antarctic...
Paraburkholderia phymatum STM815 is a nitrogen-fixing endosymbiont that nodulate the agriculturally important Phaseolus vulgaris and several other host plants. We previously showed that the nodules induced by a STM815 mutant of the gene encoding the...
The application of nitrogen fertilizer is crucial to the growth and biological nitrogen fixation of peanut, especially in the seedling stage where nodules have not yet formed. However, it is still uncertain how much initial nitrogen fertilizer should...
The multiscaling quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach was introduced in 1976, while the extensive acceptance of this methodology started in the 1990s. The combination of QM/MM approach with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, otherw...
Cyanobacteria produce a range of secondary metabolites, one being the neurotoxic non-protein amino acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), proposed to be a causative agent of human neurodegeneration. As for most cyanotoxins, the function of BMAA in cy...
A sustainable society was proposed more than 50 years ago. However, it is yet to be realised. For example, the production of ammonia, an important chemical widely used in the agriculture, steel, chemical, textile, and pharmaceutical industries, still...
Biotechnology has a high potential to substantially contribute to a low-carbon society. Several green processes are already well established, utilizing the unique capacity of living cells or their instruments. Beyond that, the authors believe that th...
Flavodiiron proteins (FDPs, also called flavoproteins, Flvs) are modular enzymes widely present in Bacteria and Archaea. The evolution of cyanobacteria and oxygenic photosynthesis occurred in concert with the modulation of typical bacterial FDPs. Pre...
Candidatus Methylospira mobilis is a recently described spiral-shaped, micro-aerobic methanotroph, which inhabits northern freshwater wetlands and sediments. Due to difficulties of cultivation, it could not be obtained in a pure culture for a long ti...
The optimization of all constituent conditions to obtain high and even maximum yields is a recent trend in agriculture. Legumes play a special role in this process, as they have unique characteristics with respect to storing protein and many other im...
The aim of this study is to assess the effect of two biostimulators (Titanit, Rooter) and six foliar fertilizers (Optysil, Metalosate Potassium, Bolero Bo, ADOB 2.0 Zn IDHA, ADOB B, ADOB 2.0 Mo) on white lupine. In addition, we evaluated the enzymati...
Intracellular polyols are used as osmoprotectants by many plants under environmental stress. However, few studies have shown the role of polyol transporters in the tolerance of plants to abiotic stresses. Here, we describe the expression characterist...
This study was conducted to evaluate selected biomolecular characteristics of rice root-associated diazotrophs isolated from the Tanjong Karang rice irrigation project area of Malaysia. Soil and rice plant samples were collected from seven soil serie...
Understanding the dominant populations and biological functions of endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in apple plants is of great significance for the healthy growth management and sustainable development of apple cultivation. In this study, we inve...
Non-proteinogenic neurotoxic amino acid β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is synthesized by cyanobacteria, diatoms, and dinoflagellates, and is known to be a causative agent of human neurodegenerative diseases. Different phytoplankton organisms’ abili...
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