In: Biology
1. Which of the following metabolic waste products would be a result of nitrate reductase?
Multiple Choice
Nitrite
Nitrous oxide
Atmospheric nitrogen gas
Ammonium
Ans.
The answer is 'Nitrite'.
Explanation:
The nitrogen compounds such as nitrate and ammonium are the minerals that plants require in large quantities.The pathway of nitrate assimilation starts with the uptake of nitrate by the roots,which is then either reduced or stored in vacuoles or transported to the shoots for further reduction and vacuolar storage and for osmoregulation purpose.The first of nitrate reduction takes place in the cytosol,where the enzyme nitrate reductase (NR) produces nitrite.Nitrate reductase is an enzyme that belongs to the DMSO reductase family of Mo-containing enzymes.It is an important enzyme that plays key roles in the metabolism of the nitrogen cycle by reducing nitrate to nitrite.The nitrite thus produced then enters the chloroplast in the shoot or the plastid,where it is reduced to ammonium by the enzyme nitrite reductase(NIR).The ammonium is then fixed by the GS/GOGAT pathway into glutamine or glutamate,which then serves as substrates for the transamination reactions that produces all other proteinous amino acids.
Thus,the metabolic waste product that is produced by nitrate reductase is Nitrite and hence the answer.
Ammonium on the other hand is the metabolic product of nitrite reductase.