1. Gas production from glucose-fermenting
E. coli cells grown anaerobically with nitrite or ammonia as sole nitrogen source was compared. In nitrite-grown cells, gas formation during glucose fermentation was strikingly stimulated by the presence of nitrite, whereas nitrite inhibited completely the gas evolution by ammonia-grown cells.
2. The gas produced by nitrite-grown cells in response to nitrite addition consisted mostly of CO
2 which seemed to have been derived from an unknown endogenous substrate. The total production of CO
2 was proportional to the amount of nitrite added. Stoichiometry studies showed that one mole of nitrite was quantitatively reduced toammonia, concomitant with the evolution of one mole of CO
2.
3. Evidence was presentedindicating that cytochrome
c-552 was involved in this CO
2 producing system coupled to nitrite reduction, because both the CO
2 evolution and nitrite reduction were strikingly decreased when intact cells were freed from cytochrome
c-552 by converting them into spheroplasts, and these activities could be restored by the addition of cytochrome
c-552.
4. It was suggested that a sulfhydryl group and factors or sites sensitive to cyanide, azide, and HOQNO may be involved in the activity of the nitrite-dependent CO
2 producing system.
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