Nature's nitrite-to-ammonia expressway, with no stop at dinitrogen.

Since the characterization of cytochrome c as a multiheme nitrite reductase, research on this enzyme has gained major interest. Today, it is known as pentaheme cytochrome c nitrite reductase (NrfA). Part of the NH produced from NO is released as NH leading to nitrogen loss, similar to denitrification which generates NO, NO, and N. NH can also be used for assimilatory purposes, thus NrfA contributes to nitrogen retention. It catalyses the six-electron reduction of NO to NH, hosting four His/His ligated c-type hemes for electron transfer and one structurally differentiated active site heme. Catalysis occurs at the distal side of a Fe(III) heme c proximally coordinated by lysine of a unique CXXCK motif (Sulfurospirillum deleyianum, Wolinella succinogenes) or, presumably, by the canonical histidine in Campylobacter jejeuni. Replacement of Lys by His in NrfA of W. succinogenes led to a significant loss of enzyme activity. NrfA forms homodimers as shown by high resolution X-ray crystallography, and there exist at least two distinct electron transfer systems to the enzyme. In γ-proteobacteria (Escherichia coli) NrfA is linked to the menaquinol pool in the cytoplasmic membrane through a pentaheme electron carrier (NrfB), in δ- and ε-proteobacteria (S. deleyianum, W. succinogenes), the NrfA dimer interacts with a tetraheme cytochrome c (NrfH). Both form a membrane-associated respiratory complex on the extracellular side of the cytoplasmic membrane to optimize electron transfer efficiency. This minireview traces important steps in understanding the nature of pentaheme cytochrome c nitrite reductases, and discusses their structural and functional features.