Both urea and urease were subjects of early scientific investigations. Urea was the first organic molecule to be synthesized and jack bean urease was the first enzyme ever to be crystallized. About 50 years later it was shown to be the first nickel metalloenzyme. Since then, nickel-dependent ureases have been isolated from many bacteria, fungi and higher plants. They have similar structures and...

A spot test for the detection of urease activity was developed and evaluated with 761 strains of gram-negative bacteria. The test was compared with the conventional Christensen urea agar slants and urease test on the Vitek Enterobacteriaceae card (Vitek Systems, Inc., St. Ana, Mo.). Of the 348 strains of the Proteus-Providencia-Morganella group that were urease positive, 327 (94%) yielded posit...

We show that diffusion of single urease enzyme molecules increases in the presence of urea in a concentration-dependent manner and calculate the force responsible for this increase. Urease diffusion measured using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy increased by 16-28% over buffer controls at urea concentrations ranging from 0.001 to 1 M. This increase was significantly attenuated when urease...

SoilScience • Volume 175, Number 11, November 2010 Urease is one of the most thoroughly studied soil enzymes because it greatly influences the fate and performance of a widely used fertilizer (urea) (Bremner and Mulvaney, 1978; Ma et al., 1999; Tate, 2002). Urea was reported to be taken up by microorganisms, such as Corynebacterium glutamicum and Paxillus involutus (Jahns and Kaltwasser, 1989; ...

The Corynebacterium glutamicum genes encoding urease were isolated and sequenced. While ureA, ureB and ureC are encoding structural subunits of urease, ureE, ureF, ureG and ureD are encoding accessory proteins. As deduced from DNA sequence analyses, the ure genes are transcriptionally coupled, this was proven by RT-PCR at least for ureABC. Gene disruption experiments revealed that both structur...

Helicobacter pylori, a gram-negative, microaerophilic, spiral-shaped bacterium, is an etiologic agent of human gastritis and peptic ulceration and is highly restricted to the gastric mucosa of humans. Urease, synthesized at up to 6% of the soluble cell protein, hydrolyzes urea, thereby releasing ammonia, which may neutralize acid, allowing survival of the bacterium and initial colonization of t...

A urease-deficient derivative of Streptococcus salivarius 57.I was constructed by allelic exchange at the ureC locus. The wild-type strain was protected against acid killing through hydrolysis of physiologically relevant concentrations of urea, whereas the mutant was not. Also, S. salivarius could use urea as a source of nitrogen for growth exclusively through a urease-dependent pathway.

nickel (ni) is one of the essential micronutrients for higher plants and its known function is beingthe metal component of urease. the effects of various ni levels on urease activity in maize (zea maize l.)plants grown in two nutrient media containing urea or ammonium nitrate as two separate nitrogen sourceswere investigated. the experiments were performed as completely randomized blocks with t...

Most members of the genus Brucella show strong urease activity. However, the role of this enzyme in the pathogenesis of Brucella infections is poorly understood. We isolated several Tn5 insertion mutants deficient in urease activity from Brucella abortus strain 2308. The mutations of most of these mutants mapped to a 5.7-kbp DNA region essential for urease activity. Sequencing of this region, d...