Nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction) associated with roots of the seagrass Halodule wrightii was measured offshore near Beaufort and Moorhead City, N.C. Rates of acetylene reduction were higher in aerobic than in anaerobic assays and were linear for up to 5 days. The temperature range for acetylene reduction was 15 to 35 degrees C with a maximum activity at 35 degrees C. Nitrogenase activity...

An acetylene black electrode modified by an adsorbed cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), was developed. The influences of various types of surfactants on the electroreduction of O2 were investigated. It was demonstrated that a cationic surfactant, CTAB, on the surface of the electrode could significantly decrease the overpotential of dioxygen reduction, and the reduction...

A method has been developed for culturing detached nitrogen-fixing root nodules of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.) on a simple nutrient medium. Under the best conditions devised, the acetylene reduction activity of mature detached nodules was maintained at 10 to 25 nmoles of ethylene hr(-1) mg(-1) fresh weight for 3 days. Under the same culture conditions, immature nodules increased their acet...

Lake water samples were observed to transform [14-C]ethylene into water-soluble compounds that were undetectable by conventional acetylene reduction assay procedures. Methane oxidizing bacteria, which are known to be common in freshwaters, appeared to be responsible for this activity. As much as 28 percent of added ethylene has been observed to be transformed and this figure is probably an unde...

Pure cultures of the symbiotic cyanobacterium-bryophyte association with Anthoceros punctatus were reconstituted by using Nostoc sp. strain UCD 7801 or its 3-(3,4-dichlorophenol)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU)-resistant mutant strain, UCD 218. The cultures were grown under high light intensity with CO2 as the sole carbon source and then incubated in the dark to deplete endogenous reductant pools befor...

The effect of nitrate on N(2) fixation and the assimilation of fixed N(2) in legume nodules was investigated by supplying nitrate to well established soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv Bragg)-Rhizobium japonicum (strain 3I1b110) symbioses. Three different techniques, acetylene reduction, (15)N(2) fixation and relative abundance of ureides ([ureides/(ureides + nitrate + alpha-amino nitrogen)] x 10...

Examination of interactions among various substrates and inhibitors reacting with a partially purified nitrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii has shown that: nitrous oxide is competitive with N2; carbon monixide and acetylene are noncompetitive with N2; carbon monoxide, cyanide, and nitrous oxide are noncompetitive with acetylene, whereas N2 is competitive with acetylene; carbon monoxide is no...

Extracts of Closfridium pasfeurianum have been separated into five protein fractions, which are necessary for nitrogen fixation when pyruvate is used as the source of energy and electrons. Pyruvate oxidase is shown to be heat-stable and to have gel filtration properties corresponding to a molecular weight of 100,000 or greater. The function of ferredoxin as an electron carrier for nitrogen fixa...