The Nitrogen Fixation and its Research in China

Section I. Chemistry of Nitrogen Fixation.- 1. Research on the Chemical Modelling of Biological Nitrogen Fixation in the new China-An Overview of Research Carried out at the Fujian Institute During the 1970s and the Early 1980s.- 2. A Chemical Bond Theory of Transition-Metal-Dinitrogen Complexes.- 3. Study on the Chemistry of Molybdenum-Iron-Sulfur and Iron-Sulfur Clusters.- 4. Studies on the Mechanism of Nitrogenase Catalysis Substrates-Cluster-Coordination-Chemistry Approach.- 5. ATP Binding to Nitrogenase and ATP-Driven Electron Transfer in Nitrogen Fixation.- 6. Chemical Modelling of the Active Site of Molybdenum-Iron Protein. Synergism of MoFeS Cubane-Like Unit from Physical and Chemical Evidence.- 7. Synthesis, Structure and Properties of Some Mo-Fe-S Model Compounds for the Mo-Fe Center and the First Coordination Sphere of Mo-Atom in Nitrogenase.- 8. Systematic Investigations on the Bonding Property of the M-Fe-S (M = Mo, V, and W) Cluster Compounds and Novel Assumptions on the Active Center Models of Nitrogenase.- Section II. Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics of Nitrogen Fixation.- 9. Identification and DNA Sequence Analysis of the fixX Gene of R. leguminosarum by. viciae.- 10. Multiple Binding Sites in the Complex Between the nodA-D Intergenic Region and the Product of the nodD Gene.- 11. Nitrogenase and FeMo-Cofactor.- 12. Chemical Modification of the Active Center of Nitrogenase.- 13. Genetic Improvement of Rhizobium Strains.- 14. The Importance of the Rhizobial Cell Surface in Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation.- 15. Rhizobium meliloti Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation: Identification of nif and fix Genes; the nif fix Cascade Regulatory Pathway.- 16. The Nodulation of Legumes of Rhizobia.- 17. Nitrogen-Fixing Enterobacter: Structure of nif-Gene Group, nif-PlasmidSpread and Risk Assessment for Releases.- 18. Molecular Population Genetics and Evolution of Rhizobia.- 19. Identification of nif and nod Genes in Frankia.- 20. Generalized Nitrogen Regulation in the Purple

The contributions to this book represent the first complete overview of nitrogen-fixation research. This research field is of prime importance for agriculture in China and nitrogen fixation provides more than half of the fertilizers applied. The topics presented cover biochemistry, molecular genetics and the biology of nitrogen fixation.