Chapter 12.5, Problem 1CC

Summary Introduction

Nitrogen is an important building block for cellular components such as amino acids and nucleic acids. Ammonia is a common source of nitrogen for many organisms. Ammonia assimilation is the process of releasing nitrogen from ammonia and utilizing it in the cell. Either the reductive amination or the glutamine synthetase-glutamate synthase system can be utilized to initially incorporate nitrogen into a carbon backbone.