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Nitric Oxide Signaling Pathway01:28

Nitric Oxide Signaling Pathway

Nitric oxide (NO), an inorganic gas, acts as a potent second messenger in most animal and plant tissues. NO diffuses out of the cells that produce it and enters the neighboring cells to generate a downstream response. NO synthase (NOS) catalyzes NO production by the deamination of the amino acid arginine. There are three isoforms of NOS. Endothelial cells have endothelial NOS (eNOS), nerve and muscle cells have neuronal NOS (nNOS), and macrophages produce inducible NOS (iNOS) upon exposure to...
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Application of Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Nitric Oxide (NO&#8226;) Probes, the geNOps, for Real-time Imaging of NO&#8226; Signals in Single Cells
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Application of Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Nitric Oxide (NO•) Probes, the geNOps, for Real-time Imaging of NO• Signals in Single Cells

Published on: March 16, 2017

Bacterial nitric-oxide synthases operate without a dedicated redox partner.

Ivan Gusarov1, Marina Starodubtseva, Zhi-Qiang Wang

  • 1Department of Biochemistry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry
|March 5, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Bacterial nitric-oxide synthases (bNOSs) produce nitric oxide (NO) in living cells by utilizing cellular redox partners. This finding suggests bNOS is an evolutionary precursor to mammalian NOS.

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Analytical Techniques for Assaying Nitric Oxide Bioactivity
11:28

Analytical Techniques for Assaying Nitric Oxide Bioactivity

Published on: June 18, 2012

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Microbiology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Bacterial nitric-oxide synthases (bNOSs) are structurally distinct from mammalian NOS, lacking a reductase domain, which raised questions about their in vivo NO production capabilities.
  • The precise mechanisms and in vivo functionality of bNOS enzymes remained largely uncharacterized.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the in vivo nitric oxide (NO) production by bacterial nitric-oxide synthases (bNOSs).
  • To explore the evolutionary relationship between bacterial and mammalian nitric-oxide synthases.
  • To assess the potential of bNOS-containing bacteria as novel nitric oxide donors.

Main Methods:

  • Demonstration of NO production by Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus anthracis bNOS enzymes in living cells.
  • Investigation of bNOS interaction with cellular redox partners.
  • Expression of mammalian NOS oxygenase domain in Escherichia coli to test bacterial reductase support.

Main Results:

  • Bacterial NOS enzymes from Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus anthracis successfully produce NO in vivo.
  • bNOS enzymes utilize promiscuous cellular redox partners for NO biosynthesis, not normally involved in this process.
  • Bacterial reductases can support NO synthesis by the oxygenase domain of mammalian NOS.

Conclusions:

  • Bacterial NOS represents an evolutionary precursor to eukaryotic NOS, which later acquired a dedicated reductase domain.
  • Alternatively spliced mammalian NOS forms lacking reductase domains might retain in vivo functionality.
  • bNOS-containing probiotic bacteria present a novel platform for controlled physiological NO generation for research and clinical applications.