Abstract
IT has recently been shown1 that a number of micro-organisms can form nitrite from various oximes, although the mechanisms involved have not yet been elucidated. We have now established that some organisms capable of forming nitrite from oximes (for example, Alcaligenes, Corynebacterium equi, and strains of Nocardia corallina) can also form nitrite from hydroxylamine if the hydroxylamine is added in sufficiently low concentrations to washed suspensions of the cells. Typical results are shown in Table 1. Nitrite formation from both hydroxylamine and pyruvic oxime was inhibited by hydrazine over the range M/100–M/1,000 hydrazine, but not by M/1,000 thiourea or allylthiourea.
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References
Jensen, H. L., J. Gen. Microbiol., 5, 360 (1951). Quastel, J. H., Scholefield, P. G., and Stevenson, J. W., Biochem. J., 51, 278 (1952).
Hofman, T., and Lees, H., Biochem. J., 54, 579 (1953).
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LEES, H., SIMPSON, J., JENSEN, H. et al. Formation of Nitrite from Oximes and Hydroxylamine by Micro-organisms. Nature 173, 358 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/173358a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/173358a0
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