Perspectives in Biological Nitrogen Fixation Research

作     者：Qi Cheng 

作者机构：Department of Biochemistry Redox Biology Center University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln Nebraska 68588 USA 

出 版 物：《Journal of Integrative Plant Biology》 (植物学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2008年第50卷第7期

页      面：786-798页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071001[理学-植物学] 07[理学] 0901[农学-作物学] 0703[理学-化学] 0902[农学-园艺学] 

基　　金：I thank many of my colleagues for helpful discussions and apologize for not thanking them individually. This review is dedicated to Professor C. B. You  who sadly passed away in 1994  and will be remembered as one of the early researchers in the field of biological nitrogen fixation in China 

主　　题：aerobic anaerobic anoxic convergent enzyme light-independent light-utilizing nitrogen fixation nitrogenase oxic protochlorophyllide reductase. 

摘      要：Nitrogen fixation, along with photosynthesis is the basis of all life on earth. Current understanding suggests that no plant fixes its own nitrogen. Some plants （mainly legumes） fix nitrogen via symbiotic anaerobic microorganisms （mainly rhizobia）. The nature of biological nitrogen fixation is that the dinitrogenase catalyzes the reaction-splitting triple-bond inert atmospheric nitrogen （N2） into organic ammonia molecule （NH3）. All known nitrogenases are found to be prokaryotic, multi-complex and normally oxygen liable. Not surprisingly, the engineering of autonomous nitrogen-fixing plants would be a long-term effort because it requires the assembly of a complex enzyme and provision of anaerobic conditions. However, in the light of evolving protein catalysts, the anaerobic enzyme has almost certainly been replaced in many reactions by the more efficient and irreversible aerobic version that uses O2. On the other hand, nature has shown numerous examples of evolutionary convergence where an enzyme catalyzing a highly specific, O2-requiring reaction has an oxygen-independent counterpart, able to carry out the same reaction under anoxic conditions. In this review, I attempt to take the reader on a simplified journey from conventional nitrogenase complex to a possible simplified version of a yet to be discovered light-utilizing nitrogenase.