SOME REQUIREMENTS OF BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Substantially higher requirements for biotin and for Fe were found in the anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium pasteurianum (strain W-5), when fixing N than when assimilating NH3. An increased requirement for Fe during N-fixation was also found in the blue-green alga, Nostoc muscorum G. A mechanism of N-fixation is proposed in which a chelated form of a variable-valent metal ion is the key reagent that acts by transferring electrons to N thereby effecting reduction to NH3 by what is essentially the nitride reaction.