Nitric-oxide-driven oxygen release in anoxic Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Denitrification supports anoxic growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in infections. Moreover, denitrification may provide oxygen (O2) resulting from dismutation of the denitrification intermediate nitric oxide (NO) as seen in Methylomirabilis oxyfera. To examine the prevalence of NO dismutation we studied O2 release by P. aeruginosa in airtight vials. P. aeruginosa rapidly depleted O2 but NO supplementation generated peaks of O2 at the onset of...