The major aetiological agent of human bacterial meningitis is Neisseria meningitidis. During the course of disease and host colonization, the bacterium has to withstand limited oxygen availability. Nitrogen oxide and nitrogen oxyanions are thought to be present, which may constitute an alternative sink for electrons from the N. meningitidis respiratory chain. A partial denitrification pathway is encoded by the aniA nitrite reductase gene and the norB nitric oxide reductase gene. Analysis of the completed genome sequences of two N. meningitidis strains is used to generate a model for the membrane-associated respiratory chain of this organism. Analysis of aniA expression indicates it to be controlled primarily by oxygen and secondarily by nitrite. The ability of N. meningitidis to denitrify relies on microaerobic growth conditions. Here we show that under microaerobic conditions nitrite supplements oxygen as an alternative respiratory substrate.
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February 2005
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Conference Article|
February 01 2005
Microaerobic denitrification in Neisseria meningitidis
J.D. Rock;
J.D. Rock
1Department of Biology (Area 10), University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5YW, U.K.
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J.W.B. Moir
J.W.B. Moir
1
1Department of Biology (Area 10), University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5YW, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email jm46@york.ac.uk).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
September 15 2004
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© 2005 The Biochemical Society
2005
Biochem Soc Trans (2005) 33 (1): 134–136.
Article history
Received:
September 15 2004
Citation
J.D. Rock, J.W.B. Moir; Microaerobic denitrification in Neisseria meningitidis. Biochem Soc Trans 1 February 2005; 33 (1): 134–136. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0330134
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