Question

Which of the following is NOT a mechanism to prevent oxygen from entering the environment of nitrogenase? Group of answer choices Reduction of iron to prevent oxidation Protective proteins sequestering the nitrogenase Using specialized cells to sequester nitrogenase Separating oxygenic photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation temporally

Answer 1

Reduction of iron to prevent oxidation.

Step-by-step explanation:

Bacteria has several mechanisms to protect the enzyme nitrogenase, one of them involves the increase of their metabolism to reduce the oxygen availability.

Besides this mechanism, there is also a conformational protection. This involves an interaction with FeSII protein, a ferredoxin. This protein is found as a homodimer that contains a 2[Fe-S] cluster, so reduction of Fe is not one of the mechanisms.