Oxidation of nitroethane by extracts from Neurospora.

The metabolism of nitro compounds in plants has not been extensively investigated. Only two such compounds appear to have been reported as occurring naturally in plants. Chloromycetin contains an aromatic nitro group, and occurs in the culture medium of Streptomyces. Certain bacteria (1) and, more recently, a bacterial cell-free enzyme (2) have been shown to bring about the reduction of the nitro group of this compound. fl-Nitropropionic acid has been found to be a component of hiptagin (3) and also occurs in the culture medium of Aspergillus flavus (4). It has been suggested (5, 6) that during the initial phases of nitrate assimilation by plants the nitrate molecule is incorporated into an organic complex. It is conceivable that nitroethane may be representative of such a compound. This paper reports the isolation from Neurospora of an enzyme which catalyzes the oxidation of nitroethane apparently according to the equation