Life Sciences for Engineers Laboratory

By
Dr. Talluri Sekhar, Professor, Department of Biotechnology, GITAM

Experiment 5: Nitrogen cycle

Objective: To explain the Nitrogen cycle and explore the consequences of

individual factors that affect the Nitrogen cycle.
Principles: Elements, such as Nitrogen, are cycled through the different biotic
and abiotic components of an ecosystem. An ecosystem is defined as the system
that includes all the living organisms within an area and the abiotic entities with
which they interact. Although an abundance of Nitrogen is present in the earth’s
atmosphere, it cannot be incorporated into the metabolism of most living
organisms directly.

Nitrogen fixation: Molecular Nitrogen enters the biotic components of an

ecosystem through a set of pathways that are collectively termed as “Nitrogen
fixation.” Nitrogen fixation requires conversion of N2 to forms that can be used
to synthesize essential organic nitrogen compounds, such as proteins and
nucleic acids. Nitrogen fixation occurs by natural abiotic processes such as
lightning and volcanic activity, natural biotic processes involving bacteria and
human industrial activity. Certain bacteria, such as Azotobacter can fix nitrogen.

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 Life Sciences for Engineers Laboratory

By
Dr. Talluri Sekhar, Professor, Department of Biotechnology, GITAM
Legume crops fix nitrogen through bacteria, such as Rhizobium, in their root
nodules. Nitrogen fixing bacteria utilize an enzyme named Nitrogenase that
catalyzes the reduction of molecular nitrogen to produce ammonia.
Assimilation: Plants can also absorb nitrates or ammonium from soil through
their root hairs.
Animals obtain their nitrogen by consuming Plants or other Animals.
Ammonification: Certain Bacteria and Fungi decompose dead animals and plants
resulting in transfer of nitrogen from biotic to ammonium (abiotic form).
Nitrification: Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia to nitrate. Nitrosomonas
oxidizes ammonium to nitrite. Nitrobacter oxidizes nitrite to nitrate.
Denitrification: Denitrifying bacteria, such as Pseudomonas and Paracoccus,
convert nitrate to molecule nitrogen, which is released back into the
atmosphere.
Reference: Campbell et al. Biology: A Global Approach, Pearson.

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 Life Sciences for Engineers Laboratory

By
Dr. Talluri Sekhar, Professor, Department of Biotechnology, GITAM
Procedure:
Type the following in the address bar of your browser:
https://www.brainpop.com/games/nitrogencyclegame/
Click on “Play Game”
Wait for approximately 30 seconds.
Press skip (or arrows) until you see “Nitrogen Cycle”
Click on “Tutorial”
Read the online instructions in the tutorial and play game.
At the end of the tutorial click on “return to game”
Click on “Single Player”
Click on 30.
Play game
At end of the game, your score will be displayed.
Take a screen shot.
Upload screen shot showing your final score to moodle.

Results:
Score obtained was __________.

Conclusion:
What did you learn from this experiment?

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