Showing papers by "Miguel G. Guerrero published in 1984"

Sustained Photoproduction of Ammonia from Dinitrogen and Water by the Nitrogen-Fixing Cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. Strain ATCC 33047.

Abstract: Conditions have been developed that lengthen the time during which photosynthetic dinitrogen fixation by filaments of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain ATCC 33047 proceeds freely, whereas the subsequent conversion of ammonia into organic nitrogen remains blocked, with the resulting ammonia released to the outer medium. When l-methionine-dl-sulfoximine was added every 20 h, maximal rates of ammonia production (25 to 30 μmol/mg of chlorophyll per h) were maintained for about 50 h. After this time, ammonia production ceased due to a deficiency of glutamine and other nitrogenous compounds in the filaments, conditions which finally led to cell lysis. The effective ammonia production period could be further extended to about 7 days by adding a small amount of glutamine at the end of a 40-h production period or by allowing the cells to recover for 8 h in the absence of l-methionine-dl-sulfoximine after every 40-h period in the presence of the inhibitor. A more prolonged steady production of ammonia, lasting for longer than 2 weeks, was achieved by alternating treatments with the glutamine synthetase inhibitors l-methionine-dl-sulfoximine and phosphinothricin, provided that 8-h recovery periods in the absence of either compound were also alternated throughout. The biochemically manipulated cyanobacterial filaments thus represent a system that is relatively stable with time for the conversion of light energy into chemical energy, with the net generation of a valuable fuel and fertilizer through the photoreduction of dinitrogen to ammonia.

Regulation of Nitrate Utilization by CO2 Fixation Products in the Cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans

Abstract: The utilization of nitrate by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) is a genuine photosynthetic process that makes use of the assimilatory power generated in the light reactions of photosynthesis. This process includes as early steps the uptake of nitrate into the cell and its reduction to ammonium. Consequently, nitrate utilization by intact cells can be measured by following either the dissapearance of nitrate from the outer medium or the nitrate-dependent extra O2 evolution in the light. In the latter case, stoichiometric values of about 2 mol of oxygen evolved per mol of nitrate taken up have been determined (Flores et al., 1983a).