AVS 46th International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Group Tuesday Sessions
       Session BI-TuP

Paper BI-TuP22
A Dissimilatoric Nitrate Reductase as a Signal Transducer in a Tethered Membrane FET Architecture

Tuesday, October 26, 1999, 5:30 pm, Room 4C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: Th. Hettmann, IMB Jena e.V., Germany
Authors: H. Borcherding, IMB Jena e.V., Germany
Th. Hettmann, IMB Jena e.V., Germany
S. Diekmann, IMB Jena e.V., Germany
P. Steinruecke, IMB Jena e.V., Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
Nitrate reductase is a key enzyme in the anaerobic denitrification of nitrate to elementary nitrogen. Nitrate is reduced to nitrite in the catalytical @alpha@-subunit of the enzyme. The dissimilatoric enzyme from Pseudmonas stutzeri also comprises a membrane-integral @gamma@-subunit which is involved in the transfer of electrons from the the bacterial quinole pool to the site of nitrate reduction. This makes the enzyme a valuable functional unit for reconstitution in lipid bilayers. We developed a suitable purification protocol for nitrate reductase from Ps. stutzeri . The enzyme is reconstituted in phospholipid vesicles which are used for the reconstitution of the enzyme in a tethered bilayer covering the gate of a field effect transistor. By generation of a nitrate-specific transmembrane potential, it should be possible to design a nitrate-specific FET biosensor. Data will be given on the suitability of our approach to create a new type of biosensor.