Activation of the Klebsiella pneumoniae nifU promoter: identification of multiple and overlapping upstream NifA binding sites.

The Klebsiella pneumoniae nifU promoter is positively controlled by the NifA protein and requires a form of RNA polymerase holoenzyme containing the rpoN encoded sigma factor, sigma 54. Occupancy of the K. pneumoniae nifU promoter by NifA was examined using in vivo dimethyl sulphate footprinting. Three binding sites for NifA (Upstream Activator Sequences, UASs 1, 2 and 3) located at -125, -116 and -72 were identified which conform to the UAS consensus sequence TGT-N10-ACA. An additional NifA binding site was identified at position -90. The UASs located at -125 (UAS1) and -116 (UAS2) overlap and do not appear to bind NifA as independent sites. They may represent a NifA binding site interacting with two NifA dimers. UAS3 is located at -72, and abuts a binding site for integration host factor (IHF) and is not normally highly occupied by NifA. In the absence of IHF UAS3 showed increased occupancy by NifA. Mutational and footprinting analysis of the three UASs indicates (1) IHF and NifA can compete for binding and that this competition influences the level of expression from the nifU promoter (2) that UAS2 is a principle sequence of the UAS 1,2 region required for activation and (3) that none of the NifA binding sites interacts with NifA independently. In vivo KMnO4 footprinting demonstrated that NifA catalyses open complex formation at the nifU promoter. IHF was required for maximal expression from the nifU and nifH promoters in Escherichia coli, and for the establishment of a Nif+ phenotype in E. coli from the nif plasmid pRD1.     

Identification and mapping of nitrogen fixation genes of Rhodobacter capsulatus: duplication of a nifA-nifB region.

Rhodobacter capsulatus mutants unable to fix nitrogen were isolated by random transposon Tn5 mutagenesis. The Tn5 insertion sites of 30 Nif- mutants were mapped within three unlinked chromosomal regions designated A, B, and C. The majority of Tn5 insertions (21 mutants) map within nif region A, characterized by two ClaI fragments of 2.5 and 25 kilobases (kb). The 17-kb ClaI fragment of nif region B contains six nif::Tn5 insertions, and the three remaining mutations are located on a 32-kb ClaI fragment of nif region C. Hybridization experiments using all 17 Klebsiella pneumoniae nif genes individually as probes revealed homology to nifE, nifS, nifA, and nifB in nif region A. The nifHDK genes were localized in nif region B. About 2 kb away from this operon, a second copy of the DNA fragments homologous to nifA and nifB, originally found in nif region A, was identified.     

The Rhodobacter capsulatus glnB gene is regulated by NtrC at tandem rpoN-independent promoters.

The protein encoded by glnB of Rhodobacter capsulatus is part of a nitrogen-sensing cascade which regulates the expression of nitrogen fixation genes (nif). The expression of glnB was studied by using lacZ fusions, primer extension analysis, and in vitro DNase I footprinting. Our results suggest that glnB is transcribed from two promoters, one of which requires the R. capsulatus ntrC gene but is rpoN independent. Another promoter upstream of glnB is repressed by NtrC; purified R. capsulatus NtrC binds to sites that overlap this distal promoter region.     

Construction of chimaeric promoter regions by exchange of the upstream regulatory sequences from fdhF and nif genes

Hybrid 5' regulatory regions were constructed in which the upstream activator sequence (UAS) and promoter of various nif genes were exchanged with the upstream regulatory sequence (URS) of the fdhF gene from Escherichia coli. They were analysed for their regulatory response under different growth conditions with the aid of fdhF'-'lacZ or nif'-'lacZ fusions. Placement of the UAS from the Bradyrhizobium japonicum nifH gene in front of the spacer (DNA region between URS and promoter) plus promoter from fdhF renders fdhF expression activatable by the Klebsiella pneumoniae NIFA protein, both under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. This excludes the possibility that the spacer of the fdhF5' flanking region contains a site recognized by a putative oxygen- or nitrate-responsive repressor. There was also considerable activation by NIFA of fdhF expression in a construct lacking the nifH UAS but containing the fdhF spacer plus promoter. Further experimental evidence suggests that this reflects a direct interaction between NIFA and RNA polymerase at the ntrA-dependent promoter. A second set of hybrid constructs in which the URS from fdhF (E. coli) was placed in front of the nifD spacer plus promoter from B. japonicum or in front of the K. pneumoniae nifH, nifU, nifB spacers and promoters, delivered inactive constructs in the case of the nifD, nifU and nifB genes. However, a nifH'-'lacZ fusion preceded by its own spacer and promoter plus the foreign fdhF URS displayed all the regulatory characteristics of fdhF expression, i.e. anaerobic induction with formate and repression by oxygen and nitrate. Although it is not known why only one out of the four nif promoters could be activated by the fdhF URS, this result nevertheless demonstrates that the various regulatory stimuli affecting expression of fdhF in E. coli have their target at the upstream regulatory sequence.     

Implication of nifA in regulation of genes located on a Rhizobium meliloti cryptic plasmid that affect nodulation efficiency.

We examined the contribution of a cryptic plasmid, pRmeGR4b, to the nodulation of Medicago sativa by strain GR4 of Rhizobium meliloti. A 905-base-pair PstI DNA fragment in pRmeGR4b was found to hybridize DNA of the R. meliloti fixA promoter region as a probe. Sequence analysis of the PstI fragment showed a 206-base-pair region displaying high homology with the DNA upstream of the RNA start points of the P1 and P2 symbiotic promoters. Putative nif promoter consensus sequences were conserved in this DNA segment. Expression of DNA downstream of the nif promoterlike sequence, monitored by beta-galactosidase activity of different lacZ fusions, was demonstrated to depend on a functional nifA gene, both in microaerobically free-living cells and in nodules. Individual transposon Tn3-HoHo1 insertions in this DNA region caused a reduced nodulation competitiveness. This new symbiotic region, occupying approximately 5 kilobases of pRmeGR4b DNA, was called nfe (nodule formation efficiency).     

Structure and expression of the alternative sigma factor, RpoN, in Rhodobacter capsulatus; physiological relevance of an autoactivated nifU2-rpoN superoperon

The alternative sigma factor, RpoN (σ⁵⁴) is responsible for recruiting core RNA polymerase to the promoters of genes required for diverse physiological functions In a variety of eubacterial species. The RpoN protein In Rhodobacter capsulatus is a putative sigma factor specific for nitrogen fixation (nif) genes. Insertional mutagenesis was used to define regions important for the function of the R. capsulatus RpoN protein. Insertions of four amino acids in the predicted helix-turn-helix or in the highly conserved C-terminal eight amino acid residues (previously termed the RpoN box), and an in-frame deletion of the glutamine-rich M-terminus completely inactivated the R. capsulatus RpoN protein. Two separate insertions in the second hydrophobic heptad repeat, a putative leucine zipper, resulted in a partially functional RpoN protein. Eight other linkers in the rpoN open reading frame (ORF) resulted in a completeiy or partially functional RpoN protein. The rpoN gene in R capsulatus is downstream from the nifHDKU2 genes, in a nifU2-rpoN operon. Results of genetic experiments on the nifU2-rpoN locus show that the rpoN gene is organized in a nifU2-rpoN superoperon. A primary promoter directly upstream of the rpoN ORF is responsible for the initial expression of rpoN. Deletion analysis and insertional mutagenesis were used to define the primary promoter to 50 bp, between 37 and 87 nucleotides upstream of the predicted rpoN translational start site. This primary promoter is expressed constitutively with respect to nitrogen, and it is necessary and sufficient for growth under nitrogen-limiting conditions typically used in the laboratory. A secondary promoter upstream of nifU2 is autoactivated by RpoN and NifA to increase the expression of rpoN, which ultimately results in higher expression of RpoN dependent genes. Moreover. rpoN expression from this secondary promoter is physiologically beneficial under certain stressful conditions, such as nitrogen-limiting environments that contain high salt (>50mM NaCl) or low iron (<400nM FeS0₄).     

The pleiotropic nature of symbiotic regulatory mutants: Bradyrhizobium japonicum nifA gene is involved in control of nif gene expression and formation of determinate symbiosis

In the slow-growing soybean symbiont, Bradyrhizobium japonicum (strain 110), a nifA-like regulatory gene was located immediately upstream of the previously mapped fixA gene. By interspecies hybridization and partial DNA sequencing the gene was found to be homologous to nifA from Klebsiella pneumoniae and Rhizobium meliloti, and to a lesser extent, also to ntrC from K. pneumoniae. The B. japonicum nifA gene product was shown to activate B. japonicum and K. pneumoniae nif promoters (using nif::lacZ translational fusions) both in Escherichia coli and B. japonicum backgrounds. In the heterologous E. coli system activation was shown to be dependent on the ntrA gene product. Site-directed insertion and deletion/replacement mutagenesis revealed that nifA is probably the promoter-distal cistron within an operon. NifA- mutants were Fix- and pleiotropic: (i) they were defective in the synthesis of several proteins including the nifH gene product (nitrogenase Fe protein); the same proteins had been known to be repressed under aerobic growth of B. japonicum but derepressed at low O2 tension; (ii) the mutants had an altered nodulation phenotype inducing numerous, small, widely distributed soybean nodules in which the bacteroids were subject to severe degradation. These results show that nifA not only controls nitrogenase genes but also one or more genes involved in the establishment of a determinate, nitrogen-fixing root nodule symbiosis.