Isolation and characterization of mutant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains unable to assimilate nitrate.

Single-site mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that lack the ability aerobically to assimilate nitrate and nitrite as sole sources of nitrogen have been isolated. Twenty-one of these have been subdivided into four groups by transductional analysis. Mutants in only one group, designated nis, lost assimilatory nitrite reductase activity. Mutants in the other three transductional groups, designated ntmA, ntmB, ntmC, display a pleiotropic phenotype: utilization of a number of nitrogen-containing compounds including nitrite as sole nitrogen sources is impaired. Assimilatory nitrite reductase was shown to be the major route by which hydroxylamine is reduced in aerobically-grown cells.