Bacterial transport and transformation of nitrate and nitrite in the nitrogen cycle

大气中的氮气非常稳定，但它可以在工业化学过程或生物过程中与氢结合，产生氨。后者可以被植物和细菌用来提供蛋白质和DNA的氮含量。一些土壤细菌能有效地将氨与氧反应生成硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐。其他细菌可以将亚硝酸盐和硝酸盐还原为氮气，从而完成一个氮循环。一种新发现的该过程的变体是由一种新型细菌催化的，这种细菌可以与亚硝酸盐反应产生氮气。没有化学先例，我们希望发现这是如何工作的。硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐也可以被植物和细菌用来生产蛋白质和DNA。硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐是带负电荷的亲水化学物质。这些特性提出了这些化学物质如何进出生物细胞的基本问题。这样的细胞周围有一个屏障，具有通常阻止硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐通过的特性。我们打算大大增加对这种通过如何发生的理解。

Atmospheric nitrogen gas is very stable but it can be combined with hydrogen, either in an industrial chemical process or biologically to give ammonia. The latter can be used by plants and bacteria to provide the nitrogen content of proteins and DNA. Some soil bacteria can effectively react ammonia with oxygen to give nitrate and nitrite. Other bacteria can reduce nitrite and nitrate back to nitrogen gas, thus completing a nitrogen cycle. A newly discovered variant of this process is catalysed by novel bacteria which can react to ammonia with nitrite to give nitrogen gas. There is no chemical precedent for this and we wish to discover how this works. Nitrate and nitrite can also be used by plants and bacteria for protein and DNA production. Nitrate and nitrite are negatively charged and water-loving chemicals. These properties raise fundamental questions as to how these chemical species pass into and out of biological cells. Such cells have a surrounding barrier that has properties that normally oppose the passage of nitrate and nitrite. We intend to increase considerably understanding as to how such passage occurs.