The novel multicopper enzyme
nitrous
oxide reductase from Pseudomonas perfectomarina was purified to
homogeneity to study its properties and distribution in various
pseudomonads
and other selected denitrifying genera by immunochemical techniques.
Quantitation
of immunochemical crossreactivity by micro-complement fixation within
the
denitrifying pseudomonads of Palleroni's ribosomal ribonucleic acid
group
I corresponded to the taxonomic positions established by nucleic acid
hybridization.
The assignment of P. perfectomarina to the stutzeri-group (as
strain
ZoBell) was consolidated by immunochemical crossreactivity based on
nitrous
oxide reductase. Crossreactivity of nitrite reductase (cytochrome
cd1)
with a respective
P. perfectomarina rabbit antiserum was limited
to strain DSM 50227 of P. stutzeri; although it could not
contribute
information towards broader relationships within rRNA group I, it lent
further prove to the unity of these two species.