The requirement of light for the reduction of nitrate by higher plants has been under investigation for sonme time. Burstronm (2) obtained evidence that wheat leaves would reduce nitrate in the light but not in the dark. He concluded that nitrate reduction was directly linked to a photochemical reaction, or that it occurred concomitantly with the fixation and reduction of carbon dioxide. In con...

BACKGROUND Environmental agencies have to take measures to either reduce discharges and emissions of nitrate or to remediate nitrate-polluted water bodies where the nitrate concentrations exceed threshold values. Isotope data can support the identification of nitrate pollution sources and natural attenuation processes of nitrate. REVIEW This review article gives an overview of the information...

Nitrogen is one of the primary macronutrients of plants, and nitrate is the most abundant inorganic form of nitrogen in soils. Plants take up nitrate in soils and utilize it both for nitrogen assimilation and as a signalling molecule. Thus, an essential role for nitrate in plants is triggering changes in gene expression patterns, including immediate induction of the expression of genes involved...

In this study, eight transformed Solanum tuberosum L. plants, affected in their nitrate assimilatory pathway by the introduction of a tobacco nitrate reductase gene (Nia2), were cultivated in glasshouse conditions at INRA Ploudaniel (West Brittany, France). Two irrigation regimes were compared and plants were sampled at four stages of vegetation. Yield, tuber dry matter content, total nitrogen ...

The microbiota of the human lower intestinal tract helps maintain healthy host physiology, for example through nutrient acquisition and bile acid recycling, but specific positive contributions of the oral microbiota to host health are not well established. Nitric oxide (NO) homeostasis is crucial to mammalian physiology. The recently described entero-salivary nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathwa...

The nitrate reductase in the mature root extract of 3-day maize (Zea mays) seedlings was relatively labile in vitro. Insoluble polyvinylpyrrolidone used in the extraction medium produced only a slight increase in the stability of the enzyme. Mixing the mature root extract with that of the root tip promoted the inactivation of nitrate reductase in the latter. The inactivating factor in the matur...

We recently demonstrated protective effect of chronic oral nitrate supplementation against cardiomyopathy caused by doxorubicin (DOX), a highly effective anticancer drug. The present study was designed to identify novel protein targets related to nitrate-induced cardioprotection. Adult male CF-1 mice received cardioprotective regimen of nitrate (1 g NaNO(3) per litre of drinking water) for 7 da...

The growth and photosynthesis of Alexandrium tamarense (Lebour) Balech in different nutrient conditions were investigated. Low nitrate level (0.0882 mmol/L) resulted in the highest average growth rate from day 0 to day 10 (4.58 ¥ 10 cells mL d), but the lowest cell yield (5420 cells mL) in three nitrate level cultures. High nitrate-grown cells showed lower levels of chlorophyll a-specific and c...

The N-nitrosoproline (NPRO) test for in vivo nitrosation was applied in a study of 44 rural Nebraska men drinking high- or low-nitrate water from private wells. The subjects followed diets low in NPRO and nitrate for 5 days. On days 4 and 5 they avoided ascorbate-rich foods. Urine was collected for 24 h on day 4 while the subjects followed normal activities and on day 5 after an overnight fast ...