Nitrogen fixation genes (nif K,D,H) in the filamentous nonheterocystous cyanobacteriumPlectonema boryanum do not rearrange

Differential expression of photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation genes in the cyanobacterium Plectonema boryanum

The filamentous non-heterocystous cyanobacterium Plectonema boryanum fixes dinitrogen at a high rate during microaerobic growth in continuous illumination by temporal separation of oxygen-evolving photosynthesis and oxygen-sensitive dinitrogen fixation. The onset of nitrogen fixation is preceded by a depression in photosynthesis that establishes a sufficiently low level of dissolved oxygen in the growth medium. A several-fold reduction in the level of transcripts coding for phycocyanin (cpcBA) and the chlorophyll a binding protein of photosystem II (psbC) and psbA accompanied the depression in photosynthetic oxygen evolution. Unlike most of the other organisms examined to date, in P. boryanum, psbC and psbD do not appear to be co-transcribed. The psbC transcripts were down-regulated several fold, while the psbD transcript declined marginally during the nitrogen fixation phase. A decrease in dissolved oxygen and a dramatic increase in the level of nifH transcripts and the enzyme activity of nitrogenase were characteristic of the nitrogen fixation phase. The level of transcript for glnA, which encodes glutamine synthetase, was not altered. Reciprocal regulation of gene expression was well orchestrated with the alternating cycles of photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in P. boryanum.

Independent regulation of nifHDK operon transcription and DNA rearrangement during heterocyst differentiation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 expresses the genes required for nitrogen fixation in terminally differentiated cells called heterocysts. The nifHDK operon encodes the nitrogenase polypeptides and is expressed at high levels in heterocysts. During heterocyst differentiation, an 11-kb DNA element is excised from the nifD gene by site-specific recombination. The xisA gene, located on the 11-kb element, is required for the excision of the element. Transcription and DNA rearrangement of the nifHDK operon both occur late during heterocyst differentiation, about 18 to 24 h after induction, suggesting that the regulation of these events might be coupled. We show that heterocyst-specific transcription and DNA rearrangement of the nifHDK operon are independent of one another. Northern (RNA) analysis of the xisA mutant strain DW12-2.2, which cannot excise the nifD 11-kb element or fix nitrogen, showed that the nifH and nifD genes are transcribed on unrearranged chromosomes. The nifK gene was not transcribed in DW12-2.2, indicating that its expression is dependent on the nifH promoter and excision of the 11-kb element from the operon. A 1.68-kb DNA fragment containing the nifH promoter was deleted from the chromosome to produce the mutant strain LW1. LW1 formed heterocysts but did not grow on nitrogen-free medium and showed no transcription through nifD. Southern analysis of LW1 showed normal excision of the 11-kb element from the nifHDK operon, indicating that transcription from the nifH promoter is not required for the developmentally regulated DNA rearrangement.

Arrangement of nitrogenase structural genes in an aerobic filamentous nonheterocystous cyanobacterium

Members of the marine filamentous, nonheterocystous cyanobacterial genus Trichodesmium not only are capable of fixing nitrogen aerobically in the light but when grown under a light-dark cycle will fix nitrogen only during the light phase. In this study, we constructed a restriction map of the structural nitrogen fixation genes (nifHDK) in Trichodesmium sp. strain NIBB 1067. We found that the organization of the nif genes in Trichodesmium sp. strain NIBB 1067 is contiguous, as found in other nonheterocystous cyanobacteria and in heterocysts. Furthermore, the nif gene arrangement was identical when the cultures were grown with combined nitrogen or under nitrogen-fixing conditions. Therefore, no gene rearrangements occur, such as those that occur during the development of heterocysts in heterocystous species.

Cloning of nifHD from Nostoc commune UTEX 584 and of a flanking region homologous to part of the Azotobacter vinelandii nifU gene

The heterocystous cyanobacterium Nostoc commune UTEX 584 contains two nifH-like sequences (nifH1 and nifH2) in addition to nifHD. A region of DNA 1 kilobase upstream from the 5' end of nifH showed considerable sequence similarity to part of the published nifU sequences of Azotobacter vinelandii and Klebsiella pneumoniae.