缺乏固氮活性的浑球红假单孢菌谷氨酸合成酶突变株

光合细菌浑球红假单孢菌601菌株,经过NlG诱变获得谷氨酸缺陷型204菌株。生化分析表明,突变株204缺乏谷氨酸合成酶活性(GoGAT),谷氨酰胺合成酶话性比亲株低,用放氢和乙蛱还原法未测出固氮酶活性。此外,突变株204不能在多种氮源上生长,例如：氨、尿素、组氨酸、丝氨酸、精氨酸和腺嘌呤,表现出氮素代谢上多效缺陷的表型。从含氨基础培养基或充氮气的低限培养基上分离回复子,自发回复突变频率均为2×10一·回复子的固氮酶和GS活性恢复到亲株的水平,同时重新获得利用上述各种氮源的能力。胞内游离氨基酸库分析表明,突变株的谷氨酰胺含量是亲株的16倍,外源谷氨酰胺加入培养基也抑制固氮活性。从上述结果推论,浑球红假单胞菌具有对固氮酶调节高度敏感的反馈系统,它随代谢中间产物而变化,胞内谷氨酰胺的含量是固氮酶活性反馈调节的关键成份。     

浑球红假单胞菌及其谷氨酸合成酶突变株氢酶活性和合成

浑球红假单胞菌野生型菌株的氢酶表达被有机碳、氮底物所抑制。在光照和黑暗时,氧浓度变化对氢酶的作用不同,但高氧浓度都阻遏氢酶的表达。微量Ni~(2+)能专一性地促进氢酶活性,固氮酶的产氢也可以调节氢酶的表达水平。该野生菌株的GOGAT突变株缺乏固氮酶和氢酶活性,在加入谷氨酰胺合成酶抑制剂MSX后,固氮酶和氢酶以相关联的方式合成出来,固氮酶产生的氢看来诱导了氢酶的合成。然而在固氮酶不表达的情况下,外源氢也可诱导氢酶的合成。     

丙酮酸对浑球红假单胞菌突变株(GOGAT~-Nif~-)固氮酶活性的调节

固氮无效的浑球红假单胞菌GOGAT突变株经丙酮酸诱导产生固氮酶活性。固氮酶比活随丙酮酸浓度增加而提高,同时依赖于蛋白质合成的菌体生长。丙酮酸产生固氮酶时氮源Glu的浓度高达60 mmol/L。液相色谱分析表明,丙酮酸诱导固氮酶活性的形成与胞内Gln耗竭有关而与Asn无关。用丙酮酸代替苹果酸诱导,突变株向胞外分泌的游离氨大大减少。丙酮酸诱导时变种谷氨酰胺酶比活较高,它可能参与胞内Gln的分解。     

谷氨酰胺合成酶在固氮鱼腥藻固氮调节中的作用

在MSX(methlonine sulfoximine,谷氨酰胺合成酶的不可逆抑制剂)存在下,固氮鱼腥藻(Anabaena azotica)所分泌的氨量和谷氨酰胺合成酶(GS)活力有较好的负相关性,证明谷氨酰胺合成酶-谷氨酸合成酶(GS-GOGAT)是固氮鱼腥藻氨同化的重要途径。在蛋白质合成受到氯霉素拟制时,NH_4~ 对固氮酶的失活是迅速的,同时GS活力有较大下降,表明NH_4~ 的调控酶的失活或降解。在氮固定条件下,固氮酶活力半衰期小于4小时,GS活力半衰期大于10小时,则GS并不是固氮酶的正调节因子。NH_4~ 和谷氨酰胺(gln)对固氮酶的失活作用随它的浓度增加而提高,但GS并没有这种相关性,低浓度NH_4~ (0.1—0.5mmol/L·NH_4Cl)对GS活力没有抑制作用,高浓度gln(1.0—2.0mmol/L)也没有抑制GS活力,说明GS并不直接调控固氮酶。MSX能消除NH_4~ 和gln对固氮酶的抑制作用,并与藻龄有关。     

氧对固氮螺菌(Azospirillum brasilense)Yu 62固氮酶活性的调节作用

本文研究了在好气条件下,在以谷氨酸为氮源的液体培养基中,固氮螺菌(Azospirllumbrasilense)Yu62固氮酶形成的条件及溶氧压对固氮酶活性的影响。厌氧使整体细胞固氮酶迅速失活;而见氧后固氮酶又重新恢复活性。Western blotting实验证实,这种可逆失活的分子基础,是由于固氮酶铁蛋白-亚基被修饰和去修饰。呼吸抑制剂KCN对固氮酶活性的抑制,亦是由于固氮酶铁蛋白被修饰。因此推论细胞内的能量状态可能是启动固氮酶活化酶系统的重要信号。谷氨酰胺合成酶的抑制剂MSX不能去除厌氧和KCN引起的抑制作用。结果表明：固氮酶活性的NH+4和厌氧关闭可能通过不同的机制起作用。     

浑球红假单胞菌GOGAT缺失株中依赖Z—酮戊二酸的固氮酶诱导

2—酮戊二酸加于限量氮培养基中后,引起泽球红假单胞菌谷氨酸合成酶(GOGAT)缺失菌株(asm~-,Nif~-)固氮酶的诱导表达,诱导生成的固氮酶的活性随着培养时间的延长而下降。此时如果加入谷氨酸,固氮酶活性又重新出现,而谷氨酸通常是阻遏GOGAT缺失菌株固氮酶表达的。诱导出的固氮酶与野生菌株固氮酶有相同的调节方式,但前后两次出现的固氮酶活性在氨的敏感性上有差异。此外,在GOGAT缺失菌株内含有较高的谷氨酰胺库,同时谷氨酸胺合成酶(GS)的腺苷酸化状态也较野生型菌株高。     

氨和谷氨酰胺对浑球红假单胞菌（Rhodobacter sphaeroides）固氮酶...

浑球红假单胞菌菌株601具有迅速对外源氨作出“关闭”固氮酶活性的反应。氨对固氮酶的抑制作用,可被谷氨酰胺合成酶(GS)抑制剂MSX所解除。反之,加入Glu代谢抑制剂DON,可延长氨抑制的持续时间。Gln对固氮酶也有抑制作用。在脱腺苷化GS的透性细胞中,加入Gln可抑制固氮酶活性,同时,GS腺苷化状态提高。然而,氨则对透性细胞的固氮酶活性和GS腺苷化状态没有影响。     

光合细菌Rhodobacter sphaeroides glnB-lacZ融合子的构建与表达

亚克隆了Rhodobacter sphaeroides glnB启动子,以pMP220为载体构建成glnB-lacZ融合子。将glnB-lacZ、 nifH-lacZ、 nifA-lacZ分别导入R.sphaeroides谷氨酸合酶突变株gltB-、 gltD-和野生型菌株中,分析了突变对固氮基因转录表达的影响。试验证明,在gltBD突变株中nifH的表达受阻遏,nifA表达水平很低。这证明glt基因的突变引起固氮酶结构基因和固氮正调节基因的转录被阻遏,而glnB基因的表达几乎不受影响。试验还测定了环境中结合态氮和有机酸等信号分子对glnB和nifH表达的影响,发现加入氨或谷氨酰胺后,nifH的表达受到明显的阻遏作用,glnB-lacZ的β-半乳糖苷酶活性虽下降30%左右但不随结合态氮浓度升高而变化,仍维持在一个较高的水平。α-酮戊二酸和丙酮酸对nifH的表达有部分去阻遏作用而对glnB的表达无诱导作用。     

自生条件下根瘤菌固氮酶活性的表达

在自生条件下,测定从四种热带豆科植物中分离得到的七株根瘤菌乙炔还原能力,获得四株根瘤具有固氮活性。南洋楹菌株8638L、8638M、8638S和四棱豆菌株pS,其中菌株8638L和pS表现较高的固氮活性。结果表明,在培养基中含有低浓度氮源(谷氨酰胺)、两种碳水化合物(阿拉伯糖和琥珀酸钠)及低浓度的氧,是根瘤菌表达较高固氮酶活性所必需的。菌株8638L和pS固氮酶表达最适氧浓度为1％,谷氨酰胺浓度分别为2mMol/L     

联合固氮菌Alcaligen faecalis泌铵突变体离子束选育及鉴定

N+注入野生型菌株(Alcaligen faecalis 1.488),筛选出抗51.6mmol/L乙二胺的泌铵突变株EM1105,它以KNO3为氮源时,培养21h泌铵量可达到1.10mmol/L.研究了该突变株在不同氮源下的培养特性,推断为铵载体缺陷型.     

L-Methionine-SR-sulfoximine as a probe for the role of glutamine synthetase in nitrogenase switch-off by ammonia and glutamine in Rhodopseudomonas palustris

Methionine sulfoximine (MSX), an irreversible inhibitor of glutamine synthetase of Rhodopseudomonas palustris restored nitrogenase activity to cells in which nitrogenase had been completely inhibited by ammonia switch-off. After addition of MSX, there was a lag period before nitrogenase activity was fully restored. During this lag, glutamine synthetase activity progressively decreased, and near the time of its complete inhibition, nitrogenase activity resumed. Nitrogenase switch-off by ammonia thus required active glutamine synthetase. Glutamine itself caused nitrogenase inhibition whose reversal by MSX depended on the relative ratio of MSX to glutamine. Unlike ammonia, glutamine inhibited nitrogenase under conditions where glutamine synthetase activity was absent. This indicates that glutamine is the effector molecule in nitrogenase switch-off, for instance by interacting with the enzymatic system for Fe protein inactivation. The effects of glutamine and MSX were also dependent on the culture age. Possible explanation for this and for the competitive effects are a common binding site within the regulatory apparatus for nitrogenase, or, in part, within a common transport system. Some observations with MSX were extended to Rhodopseudomonas capsulata and agreed with those in R. palustris.     

Isolation and characterisation of nitrate reductase mutants and regulation of nitrate reductase and nitrogenase in the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum

Summary Chlorate resistant mutants of the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum isolated after N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) mutagenesis were found to be defective/blocked in nitrate reductase (NR).The parent strain possessed active NR in the presence of nitrogen as nitrate and only basal levels of activity in ammonia and N-free grown cultures. Addition of ammonia suppressed the NR activity in the parent strain whereas addition of L-methionine DL-sulphoximine (MSX) restored NR activity. A similar repression by ammonia, glutamine and derepression with MSX were also observed for nitrogenase synthesis.One class of mutants lacked NR activity (nar ^-) whereas the specific activity of NR was low in another class of mutants (nar ^def). Unlike the parent, the mutants synthesized nitrogenase and differentiated heterocysts in the presence of nitrate nitrogen. Uptake studies of nitrite and ammonia in mutants revealed that they possessed both nitrite reductase and glutamine synthetases (GS) at low levels, and the same level respectively in comparison with the parent.     

Evidence for ammonia as an inhibitor of heterocyst and nitrogenase formation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena cycadeae

Growth and regulation of heterocyst and nitrogenase by fixed nitrogen sources were studied comparatively in parent and glutamine auxotrophic mutant of Anabaena cycadeae. The parent strain grew well on N2, NH+4 or glutamine while the mutant strain grew on glutamine but not on N2 or NH+4. The total lack of active glutamine synthetase in the mutant strain thus appears to be the reason for its observed lack of growth in N2 or NH+4, which explains why it is a glutamine auxotroph and at the same time shows glutamine synthetase to be the sole primary ammonia assimilating enzyme. NH+4 repression of heterocyst and nitrogenase in the mutant and the parental strains and their derepression by L-methionine-DL-sulfoximine suggest that NH+4 per se and not glutamine synthetase mediated pathway of ammonia assimilation is the initial repressor signal of heterocyst and nitrogenase in A. cycadeae.     

An azide-resistant mutant of the blue-green algaNostoc muscorum producing heterocyst and nitrogenase in the presence of fixed inorganic nitrogen source

The N₂, NO ₃ ^– , NO ₂ ^– , NH ₄ ⁺ and glutamine growing cultures of parentNostoc muscorum are found more or less equally sensitive to azide inhibition of growth. A mutant strain resistant to sodium azide was isolated from the parent strain in NO ₃ ^– medium and the two strains were compared with regard to their heterocyst formation and nitrogenase activity in NO ₃ ^– , NO ₂ ^– , NH ₄ ⁺ and glutamine media. While the parent strain stops production of both heterocyst and nitrogenase in all the fixed nitrogen media, the azide resistant strain forms both in the fixed inorganic nitrogen media but only heterocyst and no nitrogenase in the glutamine medium. Clearly a single genetic determinant of regulatory nature appears to mediate azide-resistance as well as relief of heterocyst and nitrogenase formation from inhibition by the fixed inorganic nitrogen source. The results of glutamine effect on the heterocyst and nitrogenase formation of the two strains indicate the operation of two levels of glutamine-sensitive regulation, one which operates through the common genetic determinant of heterocyst and nitrogenase regulation and the other exclusive to nitrogenase regulation. The in vivo functional nitrogenase does not appear to be the reason for azide-resistance and neither ammonia nor glutamine or its close metabolic product seems to function in the control of heterocyst spacing.     

Photoproduction of ammonium ion from N2 in Rhodospirillum rubrum.

NH+4 excretion was undetectable in N2-fixing cultures of Rhodospirillum rubrum (S-1) and nitrogenase activity in these cultures was repressed by the addition of 10 mM NH+4 to the medium. The glutamate analog, L-methionine-DL-sulfoximine (MSX), derepressed N2 fixation even in the presence of 10 mM extracellular NH+4. When 10 mg MSX/ml was added to cultures just prior to nitrogenase induction they developed nitrogenase activity (20% of the control activities) and excreted most of their fixed N2 as NH+4. Nitrogenase activities and NH+4 production from fixed N2 were increased considerably when a combined nitrogen source, NH+4 (greater than 40 mumoles NH+4/mg cell protein in 6 days) or L-glutamate (greater than 60 mumoles NH+4/ mg cell protein in 6 days) was added to the cultures together with MSX. Biochemical analysis revealed that R. rubrum produced glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase (NADP-dependent) but no detectable NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase. The specific activity of glutamine synthetase was observed to be maximal when nitrogenase activity was also maximal. Nitrogenase and glutamine synthetase activities were repressed by NH+4 as well as by glutamate. The results demonstrate that utilization of solar energy to photoproduce large quantities of NH+4 from N2 is possible with photosynthetic bacteria by interfering with their regulatory control of N2 fixation.     

PROTEIN TURNOVER AND HETEROCYST DIFFERENTIATION IN THE CYANOBACTERIUM ANABAENA VARIABILIS1

Under conditions of starvation for fixed nitrogen, cells of the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis Kütz, degrade much of their protein prior to heterocyst differentiation. Cells starved for a source of fixed nitrogen initially degraded about 2% of their protein per hour; by 24 h after nitrogen stepdown about 40% of the protein was degraded. Most of the acid-soluble radiolabeled material was excreted into the medium. Proteolysis was completely inhibited by chloramphenicol, by cyanide, or in the dark, hut was only partially inhibited in the presence of dichlorophenyl dimethylurea. Methionine sulfoximine (MSX) (an inhibitor of glutamine synthetase) in the presence of ammonia caused heterocysts to form. MSX treated cells degraded protein; however, the amount of protein degraded was much less than in cells starved for ammonia. Glutamine, which can serve as a nitrogen source for this strain, did not prevent starvation-induced proteolysis and did not prevent the differentiation of heterocysts.     

Isolation and characterization of nitrogenase-derepressed mutant strains of cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis.

A positive selection method for isolation of nitrogenase-derepressed mutant strains of a filamentous cyanobacterium, Anabaena variabilis, is described. Mutant strains that are resistant to a glutamate analog, L-methionine-D,L-sulfoximine, were screened for their ability to produce and excrete NH4+ into medium. Mutant strains capable of producing nitrogenase in the presence of NH4+ were selected from a population of NH4+-excreting mutants. One of the mutant strains (SA-1) studied in detail was found to be a conditional glutamine auxotroph requiring glutamine for growth in media containing N2, NO3-, or low concentrations of NH4+ (less than 0.5 mM). This glutamine requirement is a consequence of a block in the assimilation of NH4+ produced by an enzyme system like nitrogenase. Glutamate and aspartate failed to substitute for glutamine because of a defect in the transport and utilization of these amino acids. Strain SA-1 assimilated NH4+ when the concentration in the medium reached about 0.5 mM, and under these conditions the growth rate was similar to that of the parent. Mutant strain SA-1 produced L-methionine-D,L-sulfoximine-resistant glutamine synthetase activity. Kinetic properties of the enzyme from the parent and mutant were similar. Mutant strain SA-1 can potentially serve as a source of fertilizer nitrogen to support growth of crop plants, since the NH4+ produced by nitrogenase, utilizing sunlight and water as sources of energy and reductant, respectively, is excreted into the environment.     

Characterization of a Mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii That Uses L-Methionine-S-Sulfoximine and Phosphinothricin as Nitrogen Sources for Growth

A strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, named ARF-1, which grows with the glutamine synthetase (GS) inhibitor L-methionine-S-sulfoximine (MSX), has been isolated and characterized. Mutant ARF-1 is affected at a single and dominant gene, tentatively assigned to the allele msr-1-2. Neither the uptake of ammonia nor the two GS isoenzyme activities of the mutant were affected by MSX in vivo. GS activities, however, were fully abolished in vitro, thus suggesting that neither GS isoform was an altered enzyme resistant to the inhibitor. Resistance to MSX does not seem to be due to either a defect in a permease responsible for the transport of MSX or over-expression of GS activity, nor did we find an alternative enzymatic pathway for the assimilation of ammonium. Resistance was independent of the nitrogen source used and was strongly enhanced by the addition of acetate. Unlike the parental strain, mutant ARF-1 can degrade and utilize MSX as the sole nitrogen source for growth, which could account for the observed resistance. Thus, this mutant can be classified as a novel type of MSX-resistant mutant. This mutant can also use phosphinothricin, methionine sulfone, or methionine sulfoxide as the sole sources of nitrogen. This capability cosegregated in the genetic crosses and was also observed in all the diploids isolated. An MSX/[alpha]-ketoglutarate aminotransferase activity, not present in the parental strain 305, was detected in mutant ARF-1 cells. Therefore, we propose that the locus msr-1-2 either codes for this transaminase activity or its product gene is necessary to express this transaminase activity.     

Control of heterocyst and nitrogenase synthesis in cyanobacteria.

The development of the heterocyst by filamentous nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria provides an attractive model system for studying cellular differentiation. Heterocyst synthesis is repressed by the presence of exogenous combined nitrogen. In this report, it is shown that the tryptophan analog, D,L-7-azatryptophan (Aza-T), is capable of relieving the repressive effect of exogenous NH4NO3 on heterocyst and nitrogenase synthesis. In nitrogen-fixing cultures, the presence of 20 micron Aza-T increases the heterocyst frequency twofold. The glutamate analog, L-methionine-D,L-sulfoximine (MSX), has also been shown to cause a derepression in the synthesis of heterocysts and nitrogenase. However, unlike MSX, Aza-T does not appear to exert its effects by inhibiting the activity of glutamine synthetase. Therefore, glutamine synthetase may not be the sole key to the derepression of heterocyst and nitrogenase development in the cyanobacteria. It is hoped that a study of Aza-T action may lead to the elucidation of a novel control mechanism.