The expression of nifA in Azorhizobium caulinodans requires a gene product homologous to Escherichia coli HF-I, an RNA-binding protein involved in the replication of phage Q beta RNA.

We report the characterization of a mutant of Azorhizobium caulinodans, isolated after ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis. This Nod+ Nif- Fix- mutant is unable to synthesize 10 of 15 polypeptides normally induced under conditions of nitrogen fixation. By using lacZ fusions it was shown that nifA and nifA-regulated genes were not expressed in this strain. The mutation was complemented by a constitutively expressed nifA gene or by a 1.1-kb DNA fragment from the wild-type strain, whose nucleotide sequence revealed a single open reading frame of 255 bp coding for an 85-amino acid polypeptide. The deduced amino acid sequence is similar to that of HF-I, an RNA-binding protein of Escherichia coli, which is required for replication of bacteriophage Q beta RNA. The similarity can be extended to the function since hfq, the structural gene for HF-I, complemented the A. caulinodans mutant. The corresponding gene in A. caulinodans was termed nrfA (for nif regulatory factor). Inactivation of nrfA in the mutant was due to a missense mutation resulting in the replacement of a cysteine residue by arginine. A null mutant, constructed by disruption of nrfA, exhibited the same phenotype as the missense mutant. Thus, an additional factor can be added to the already complex system of nifA regulation in A. caulinodans

Characterization of Azorhizobium caulinodans glnB and glnA genes: involvement of the P(II) protein in symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

The nucleotide sequence and transcriptional organization of Azorhizobium caulinodans ORS571 glnA, the structural gene for glutamine synthetase (GS), and glnB, the structural gene for the P(II) protein, have been determined. glnB and glnA are organized as a single operon transcribed from the same start site, under conditions of both nitrogen limitation and nitrogen excess. This start site may be used by two different promoters since the expression of a glnB-lacZ fusion was high in the presence of ammonia and enhanced under conditions of nitrogen limitation in the wild-type strain. The increase was not observed in rpoN or ntrC mutants. In addition, this fusion was overexpressed under both growth conditions, in the glnB mutant strain, suggesting that P(II) negatively regulates its own expression. A DNA motif, similar to a sigma54-dependent promoter consensus, was found in the 5' nontranscribed region. Thus, the glnBA operon seems to be transcribed from a sigma54-dependent promoter that operates under conditions of nitrogen limitation and from another uncharacterized promoter in the presence of ammonia. Both glnB and glnBA mutant strains derepress their nitrogenase in the free-living state, but only the glnBA mutant, auxotrophic for glutamine, does not utilize molecular nitrogen for growth. The level of GS adenylylation is not affected in the glnB mutant as compared to that in the wild type. Under symbiotic conditions, the glnB and glnBA mutant strains induced Fix- nodules on Sesbania rostrata roots. P(II) is the first example in A. caulinodans of a protein required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation but dispensable in bacteria growing in the free-living state

Regulation of nitrogen fixation in Azorhizobium caulinodans: identification of a fixK-like gene, a positive regulator of nifA

International audienceThe nucleotide sequence of a 1 kb fragment upstream of Azorhizobium caulinodans fixL was established. An open reading frame of 744 bp was identified as a fixK homologue. A kanamycin cartridge was inserted into the cloned fixK-like gene and recombined into the host genome. The resulting mutant was Nif-Fix-, suggesting that FixK was required for nitrogen fixation both in symbiotic conditions and in the free-living state. Using a pfixK-lacZ fusion, the FixLJ products were shown to control the expression of fixK. Using a pnifA-lacZ fusion, the FixK product was shown to regulate positively the transcription of nifA in bacteria grown in the free-living state. In addition, a double ntrC-fixL mutant was constructed and was shown to be completely devoid of nitrogenase activity. A model of regulation, based on these data, is presented and might explain the unusual ability of A. caulinodans to fix nitrogen both under symbiotic conditions and in the free-living state

Characterisation of the glnK-amtB operon and the involvement of AmtB in methylammonium uptake in Azorhizobium caulinodans

International audienceThis work reports the characterisation of the Azorhizobium caulinodans amtB gene, the deduced protein sequence of which shares similarity to those of several ammonium transporters. amtB is located downstream from glnK, a glnB-like gene. It is cotranscribed with glnK from an NtrC- and sigma54-dependent promoter. glnK and amtB insertion mutant strains have been isolated. Methylammonium uptake was assayed in these strains and in other mutant strains in which the regulation of nitrogen metabolism is impaired. Our data suggest that the AmtB protein is an ammonium transporter, which is mainly regulated by NtrC in response to nitrogen availability