We cloned, expressed, and characterized a hemeprotein from Deinococcus radiodurans (D. radiodurans NO synthase, deiNOS) whose sequence is 34% identical to the oxygenase domain of mammalian NO synthases (NOSoxys). deiNOS was dimeric, bound substrate Arg and cofactor tetrahydrobiopterin, and had a normal heme environment, despite its missing N-terminal structures that in NOSoxy bind Zn 2؉ and tetrahydrobiopterin and help form an active dimer. The deiNOS heme accepted electrons from a mammalian NOS reductase and generated NO at rates that met or exceeded NOSoxy. Activity required bound tetrahydrobiopterin or tetrahydrofolate and was linked to formation and disappearance of a typical heme-dioxy catalytic intermediate. Thus, bacterial NOS-like proteins are surprisingly similar to mammalian NOSs and broaden our perspective of NO biochemistry and function.G enes coding for NO synthases (NOSs, EC 4.14.23) are present throughout the plant and animal kingdom. NOS activities are present in plants and lower eukaryotes (1-5). Their primary structures and activities are strikingly similar to the mammalian NOSs, suggesting that NO has been important throughout evolution. All eukaryotic NOSs catalyze the NADPH-and O 2 -dependent oxidation of L-arginine (Arg) to citrulline and NO, with N-hydroxy-L-arginine (NOHA) formed as an enzyme-bound intermediate (6). Structurally, all animal NOSs are bi-domain proteins containing an N-terminal oxygenase domain (NOSoxy) that binds protoporphyrin IX (heme), 6R-tetrahydrobiopterin (H 4 B), and Arg and is linked to a C-terminal f lavoprotein domain (NOS reductase domain, NOSred) by a central calmodulin (CaM) binding sequence (7,8). NOSred bears strong sequence and functional similarity to NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase and related electron transfer flavoproteins (9, 10), and function to transfer NADPHderived electrons to the ferric heme for O 2 activation during NO synthesis. In contrast, NOSoxy and cytochromes P450 have completely different primary, secondary, and tertiary structures, even though both enzyme families use a thiolate-ligated heme for O 2 activation (11, 12). Moreover, unlike P450s, NOSoxy must dimerize to become active (13,14). Dimerization produces functional binding sites for Arg and H 4 B and sequesters the heme catalytic center from solvent. These distinguishing features imply that NOSs evolved separately from other heme-thiolate enzymes and can so provide unique perspectives on their structure-function relationships.Although oxidative (nitrification) or reductive (denitrification) pathways for prokaryote NO biosynthesis are well established (15), there have been few reports on NOS-like proteins in bacteria (16,17). To date no prokaryotic NOS proteins have been completely sequenced, purified, or cloned. However, some have been shown to have nitrite-forming activity that depended on Arg, NADPH, and H 4 B. More recent genome sequencing of Bacillus subtilis, Deinococcus radiodurans, and other bacteria (18)(19)(20) confirm that a subset contain ORFs that code for proteins homo...