Nitrite as an energy-conserving electron sink for the acetogenic bacterium Moorella thermoacetica

Nitrite served as an energy-conserving electron acceptor for the acetogenic bacterium Moorella thermoacetica. Growth occurred in an undefined (0.1% yeast extract) medium containing 20 m M glyoxylate and 5 m M nitrite and was essentially equivalent to that observed in the absence of nitrite. In the presence of nitrite, acetate (the normal product of glyoxylate-derived acetogenesis) was not detected during growth. Instead, growth was coupled to nitrite dissimilation to ammonium, and acetogenesis was limited to the stationary phase. Furthermore, membranes from glyoxylate-grown cells under nitrite-dissimilating conditions were deficient in the b-type cytochrome that is typically found in the membranes of acetogenic cells. Unlike glyoxylate, other acetogenic substrates (fructose, oxalate, glycolate, vanillin, and hydrogen) were not growth supportive in the undefined medium containing nitrite, and glyoxylate-dependent growth did not occur in a nitrite-supplemented, basal (without yeast extract) medium. Glyoxylate-dependent growth by Moorella thermoautotrophica was not observed in the undefined medium containing nitrite.