Molecular analysis of the chromosomal region encoding the nifA and nifB genes of Acetobacter diazotrophicus

The Acetobacter diazotrophicus nifA gene was isolated by its ability to restore a Nif⁺ phenotype to a nifA mutant of Azotobacter vinelandii. Sequencing revealed that the nifA gene was upstream and adjacent to the nifB gene and both are transcribed in the same direction but independently from different promoters. The 3′ end of the nifB gene was located approximately 2.5 kb upstream of the nitrogenase structural gene cluster, nifHDK. The deduced amino acid sequences of the A. diazotrophicus nifA and nifB gene products were most similar to the NifA and NifB proteins of Azorhizobium caulinodans and Rhodobacter capsulatus, respectively. A. diazotrophicus nifA expression was repressed in cultures exposed to high levels of ammonium while oxygen apparently had no influence. Both oxygen and ammonium prevented expression of a nifB-reporter strain, consistent with the observation that ammonium repressed nifA expression, and indicating that A. diazotrophicus NifA activity is inhibited by oxygen as in other Proteobacterial α group diazotrophs.     

Regulation of nif gene expression in Enterobacter agglomerans: nucleotide sequence of the nifLA operon and influence of temperature and ammonium on its transcription

The nucleotide sequence of a plasmid-borne 3.9 kb XhoI-SmaI fragment comprising the 3′-region of the nifM gene, the nifL and nifA genes and the 5′-region of nifB gene of Enterobacter agglomerans was determined. The genes were identified by their homology to the corresponding nif genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae. A typical σ⁵⁴-dependent promoter and a consensus NtrC-binding motif were identified upstream of nifL. The predicted amino acid sequence of NifL showed close similarities to NifL of K. pneumoniae and Azotobacter vinelandii. However, no histidine residue was found to correspond to histidine-304 of A. vinelandii NifL, which had been proposed to be required for the repressor activity of NifL. The NifA sequence with a putative DNA binding motif (Q(X₃) A (X₃) G (X₅)I) and an ATP binding site in the C-terminal and central domains, respectively, resembles that of other known NifA proteins. The function of the nifL and nifA genes was demonstrated in vivo using a binary plasmid system by their ability to activate a nifH promoter-lacZ fusion at different temperatures and concentrations of NH ₄ ⁺ . Maximal promoter activity occurred at 25°C, and it appears that the sensitivity of NifA to elevated temperatures is independent of NifL. The expression of nifL inhibited promoter activity in the presence of NifA when the initial NH ₄ ⁺ concentration in the medium exceeded 4 mM.