Steady-state nitric oxide concentrations during denitrification

Abstract

Three species of denitrifying bacteria, Paracoccus denitrificans, Pseudomonas stutzeri strain JM300, and Achromobacter cycloclastes, were allowed to reduce nitrate or nitrite in anaerobic, closed vials while the equilibration of gases between aqueous and gas phases was facilitated by vigorous stirring. The gas phase was sampled and analyzed for NO with use of a chemiluminescence detector calibrated against bottled NO standards or against NO produced by the nitrite-iodide reaction. [NOaq] was inferred from [NOg] and the solubility of NO. NO was detected only during denitrification in amounts that, once established, did not change with time, were independent of the initial concentration of nitrate or nitrite, and were largely independent of cell concentration, at least when nitrate was the oxidant. The usual level of NO was promptly re-established following the addition of exogenous NO or following the loss of NO by sparging. The aforementioned properties are expected for a steady-state intermediate in denitrification. Steady-state [NOaq] ranged between 1 and 65 nM depending on species and conditions. Similar results were also obtained in a related experiment in which P. stutzeri strain ZoBell respired nitrite under growth conditions. The very low steady-state [NOaq] observed during denitrification imply that the maximum activity of nitric oxide reductase in vivo, if it could be realized, would be large relative to that for nitrite reductase. This circumstance allows NO to be an intermediate without reaching toxic steady-state levels.