New Horizons in Nitrogen Fixation: Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Canc?n, Mexico, December 612, 1992 [Hardcover]

In order to understand a process as complex as nitrogen fixation and to be in a position to manipulate it for the benefit of mankind, researchers are now working at the frontiers of science in many different areas: protein structure and function; catalytic mechanisms; electron transfer processes; regulatory circuits and environmental sensing; metabolic integration; chemical communication between organisms; differentiation; genome structure and function; microbial ecology; plant physiology; plant molecular biology; and agronomy. This volume represents a testimony to the advances in nitrogen fixation research that have been made and the contribution of these efforts to the solution of many other varied scientific problems. Limiting steps for future advances are analyzed and new horizons in nitrogen fixation research are proposed.Introductory remarks at the overview session.- Nitrogenases: Distribution, composition, structure and function.- Rhizobium and legume nodulation: A molecular dialogue.- Plant function in nodulation and nitrogen fixation in legumes.- Organization and regulation of nitrogen fixation genes.- The role of respiration in symbiotic nitrogen fixation.- Evolution since Knoxville: Were nitrogen-fixing organisms wise to inhabit land plants?.- An integrated, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the chemistry of nitrogenases.- Structures and functions of the nitrogenase proteins.- The crystal structure of the nitrogenase MoFe protein from Clostridium pasteurianum.- Kinetics and mechanism of nitrogenase  a role for P centres in dinitrogen reduction.- Nif gene products and their roles in nitrogen fixation.- Intermolecular electron transfer and substrate reduction properties of MoFe proteins altered by site-specific amino acid substitution.- Use of Fe protein altered at specific amino acid positions to probe its function in nitrogenase catalysis.- Metal regulation of nitrogenases and molybdenum transport in Azotobactervinelandii.- RegulalS1