Kinetic explanation for accumulation of nitrite, nitric oxide, and nitrous oxide during bacterial denitrification.

The kinetics of denitrification and the causes of nitrite and nitrous oxide accumulation were examined in resting cell suspensions of three denitrifiers. An Alcaligenes species and a Pseudomonas fluorescens isolate characteristically accumulated nitrite when reducing nitrate; a Flavobacterium isolate did not. Nitrate did not inhibit nitrite reduction in cultures grown with tungstate to prevent formation of an active nitrate reductase; rather, accumulation of nitrite seemed to depend on the relative rates of nitrate and nitrite reduction. Each isolate rapidly reduced nitrous oxide even when nitrate or nitrite had been included in the incubation mixture. Nitrate also did not inhibit nitrous oxide reduction in Alcaligenes odorans, an organism incapable of nitrate reduction. Thus, added nitrate or nitrite does not always cause nitrous oxide accumulation, as has often been reported for denitrifying soils. All strains produced small amounts of nitric oxide during denitrification in a pattern suggesting that nitric oxide was also under kinetic control similar to that of nitrite and nitrous oxide. Apparent K(m) values for nitrate and nitrite reduction were 15 muM or less for each isolate. The K(m) value for nitrous oxide reduction by Flavobacterium sp. was 0.5 muM. Numerical solutions to a mathematical model of denitrification based on Michaelis-Menten kinetics showed that differences in reduction rates of the nitrogenous compounds were sufficient to account for the observed patterns of nitrite, nitric oxide, and nitrous oxide accumulation. Addition of oxygen inhibited gas production from NO(3) by Alcaligenes sp. and P. fluorescens, but it did not reduce gas production by Flavobacterium sp. However, all three isolates produced higher ratios of nitrous oxide to dinitrogen as the oxygen tension increased. Inclusion of oxygen in the model as a nonspecific inhibitor of each step in denitrification resulted in decreased gas production but increased ratios of nitrous oxide to dinitrogen, as observed experimentally. The simplicity of this kinetic model of denitrification and its ability to unify disparate observations should make the model a useful guide in research on the physiology of denitrifier response to environmental effectors.