Two related polytopic membrane proteins of the major facilitator family, NarK and NarU, catalyse nitrate uptake, nitrite export and nitrite uptake across the Escherichia coli cytoplasmic membrane by an unknown mechanism. A 12-helix model of NarU was constructed based upon six alkaline phosphatase and beta-galactosidase fusions to NarK and the predicted hydropathy for the NarK family. Fifteen residues conserved in the NarK-NarU protein family were substituted by site-directed mutagenesis, including four residues that are essential for nitrate uptake by Aspergillus nidulans: arginines Arg(87) and Arg(303) in helices 2 and 8, and two glycines in a nitrate signature motif. Despite the wide range of substitutions studied, in no case did mutation result in loss of one biochemical function without simultaneous loss of all other functions. A NarU+ NirC+ strain grew more rapidly and accumulated nitrite more rapidly than the isogenic NarU+ NirC(-) strain. Only the NirC+ strain consumed nitrite rapidly during the later stages of growth. Under conditions in which the rate of nitrite reduction was limited by the rate of nitrite uptake, NirC+ strains reduced nitrite up to 10 times more rapidly than isogenic NarU+ strains, indicating that both nitrite efflux and nitrite uptake are largely dependent on NirC. Isotope tracer experiments with [15N]nitrate and [14N]nitrite revealed that [15N]nitrite accumulated in the extracellular medium even when there was a net rate of nitrite uptake and reduction. We propose that NarU functions as a single channel for nitrate uptake and nitrite expulsion, either as a nitrate-nitrite antiporter, or more likely as a nitrate/H+ or nitrite/H+ channel.

Although Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a prolific source of eight c-type cytochromes, little is known about how its electron transfer pathways to oxygen are organized. In this study, the roles in the respiratory chain to oxygen of cytochromes c 2, c 4, and c 5, encoded by the genes cccA, cycA, and cycB, respectively, have been investigated. Single mutations in genes for either cytochrome c 4 or c 5 resulted in an increased sensitivity to growth inhibition by excess oxygen and small decreases in the respiratory capacity of the parent, which were complemented by the chromosomal integration of an ectopic, isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible copy of the cycA or cycB gene. In contrast, a cccA mutant reduced oxygen slightly more rapidly than the parent, suggesting that cccA is expressed but cytochrome c 2 is not involved in electron transfer to cytochrome oxidase. The deletion of cccA increased the sensitivity of the cycB mutant to excess oxygen but decreased the sensitivity of the cycA mutant. Despite many attempts, a double mutant defective in both cytochromes c 4 and c 5 could not be isolated. However, a strain with the ectopically encoded, IPTG-inducible cycB gene with deletions in both cycA and cycB was constructed: the growth and survival of this strain were dependent upon the addition of IPTG, so gonococcal survival is dependent upon the synthesis of either cytochrome c 4 or c 5. These results define the gonococcal electron transfer chain to oxygen in which cytochromes c 4 and c 5, but not cytochrome c 2, provide alternative pathways for electron transfer from the cytochrome bc 1 complex to the terminal oxidase cytochrome cbb 3.

The CcoP subunit of cytochrome oxidase cbb(3) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is predicted to include a C-terminal extension in which there is a C-A-A-C-H- motif typical of heme attachment sites in c-type cytochromes. Substitutions of key cysteine and histidine residues of this motif resulted in mutants that grew normally in oxygen-sufficient cultures and reduced oxygen at the same rate as the parent strain. In contrast, after oxygen-limited growth in the presence of nitrite, rates of nitrite reduction were significantly lower than those of the parent, consistent with a role for this third heme-binding domain in electron transfer to the nitrite reductase, AniA, located in the outer membrane. As the mutants were still able to reduce nitrite at approximately 65% of the rate of the parent, there are multiple pathways in the gonococcus for electron transfer to AniA. On the basis of sequence similarity between the C-terminal extension of CcoP and cytochrome c(5), it is proposed that cytochrome c(5) might also transfer electrons across the periplasm from the cytochrome bc(1) complex in the cytoplasmic membrane to AniA in the outer membrane. This is the first example of a cytochrome oxidase component that plays a physiologically significant role in nitrite reduction.