Nitrogen 1 Flashcards
What is nitrogen metabolism also known as?
Amino acid metabolism
What kinds of molecules contain nitrogen?
Amino acids and nucleotides
Where do we get our nitrogen from?
Our diet, not the air
What are the 2 stages of the nitrogen cycle in organmisms?
Assimilation
Degradation
Why is nitrogen very unreactive?
Nitrogen is bonded to another nitrogen with a triple bond
What are 3 things that supply the massive amound of energy required to breakdown nitrogen?
Lighting
450oC at 200atp with an iron catalyst
Bacteria
What does bacteria perform to breakdown nitrogen?
Nitrogen fixation
What does nitrogen fixation look like?
What is nitrogen inactivated by?
O2
How does bacteria get around O2 deactivating N2?
Live anaerobically
Uncouple mitochondria to burn all O2 in a cell
What does the process of nitrogen after it is fixed look like?
What does the flow of N2 from NH4+ to other biomolecules occur through?
Glutamate
How does glutamate pass on the nitrogen?
By interconverting into other molecules
What are the 4 amino acids in much higher concentrations in cells compared to others?
Alanine
Glutamine
Glutamate
Asparate
What do most organisms do because they cannot fix N2?
Conserve it by transamination