Description:
Nitroglycerin (NG) is a well-known nitrate ester and an important component of dynamite and other propellants. NG is toxic to algae, invertebrate, and vertebrates. Nitrosubstituted compounds are widely distributed in the environment because of their use in explosives, dyes, and agricultural chemicals. Pseudomonas putida II-B and Pseudomonas fluorescens I-C are capable of utilizing nitroglycerin as a sole nitrogen source ([http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9371434|Blehert, D., et al., 1997]). NG reductase catalyzes the NADPH-dependent denitration of NG. The Pseudomonas NG reductases were shown not to be reactive with mononitrate glycerol esters. Yet, nitroglycerin has been shown to be mineralized under anaerobic conditions (C. Chritodoulatos, S. Bhaumik and B. Brodman, 1997, Anaerobic biodegradation of nitroglycerin. Water Res. 31:1462-1470). Thus, the last step shown below is hypothesized to indicate that bacterial nitroglycerine metabolism enters intermediary metabolism.