The biochemistry of the nitrifying organisms. 5. Nitrite oxidation by Nitrobacter

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Abstract
The mechanism of nitrite oxidation was studied in the autotrophic bacterium Nitrobacter. Cyanate inhibited nitrite oxidation in Nitrobacter; the effect was re-versible by washing the cells with water. Chlorate did not inhibit nitrite oxidation directly but was converted, during the course of nitrite oxidation, into some compound (possibly chlorite) that did inhibit nitrite oxidation. This inhibition could not be reversed by washing with water. The results of these studies with cyanate and chlorate, together with results from spectroscopic examination of Nitrobacter cells under various conditions, suggest that a cytochrome with an absorption maximum at 551 m[mu] in the reduced state is intimately concerned with nitrite oxidation by Nitrobacter.