Denitrification is a main branch
of the global nitrogen cycle. In the past ten years unravelling the
underlying
biochemistry and genetics has proceeded at an increasing pace. Fungal
denitrification
has become a new field. The biochemical investigation of
denitrification
has culminated in the description of the crystal structures of the two
types of nitrite reductases. The N2O reductase
shares
with cytochrome c oxidase the CuA center
as
a structurally novel metal site. The cytochrome
b subunit of NO
reductase has a striking conservation of heme-binding transmembrane
segments
versus the subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase. Another putative
denitrification
gene product shows structural relation to the subunit III of the
oxidase.
N2O reductase and NO reductase may be ancestors
of
energy-conserving enzymes of the heme-copper oxidase superfamily. More
than 30 genes for denitrification are located in a >30-kb cluster in
Pseudomonas
stutzeri, and comparable gene clusters have been identified in Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Paracoccus denitrificans. Genes necessary
for
nitrite reduction and NO reduction have a mosaic arrangement with very
few conserved locations within these clusters and relative to each
other.