Abstract
Recent results on the regulation of nitrogen fixation and C4-dicarboxylate transport genes in Rhizobium meliloti are reviewed, nif gene expression is activated by the nifA gene product in conjunction with the ntrA sigma factor. Activation of the nifA gene does not require ntrC product but occurs in response to low oxygen tension. NifA protein activity is also sensitve to oxygen, dct regulatory gene products share homology to nitrogen regulatory gene products and to NifA, and NtrA is required for dct expression. The significance of the pattern of domain conservation found between the dct, ntr, and nif regulatory proteins is discussed.
Keywords
- Nitrogen Fixation
- Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation
- Chemosensory Receptor
- Dicarboxylate Transport
- Nitrogen Fixation Gene
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Better, M., Lewis, B., Corbin, D., Ditta, G., and Helinski, D.R., 1983, Structural relationships among Rhizobium meliloti symbiotic promoters, Cell 35:479–485.
Buchanan-Wollaston, V. and Cannon, F., 1984, Regulation of nif transcription in Klebsiella pneumoniae, in; “Advances in Nitrogen Fixation Research,” C. Veeger and W.E. Newton, eds., Nijhoff/Junk, The Hague, p. 732.
Buck, M., Miller, S., Drummond, M., and Dixon, R., 1986, Upstream activator sequences are present in the promoters of nitrogen fixation genes, Nature 320:374–378.
Bueno, R., Panel, G., and Magasanik, B., 1985, Role of glnB and glnD gene products in regulation of the glnALG operon of Escherichia coli, J. Bacteriol. 164:816–822.
Buikema, W.J., Szeto, W.W., Lemley, P.V., Orme-Johnson, W.H., and Ausubel, F.M., 1985, Nitrogen fixation specific regulatory genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Rhizobium meliloti share homology with the general nitrogen regulatory gene ntrC of K. pneumoniae, Nucleic Acids Res. 13:4539–4555.
Ditta, G., Virts, E., Palomares, A., and Kim, C., 1987, The nifA gene of Rhizobium meliloti is oxygen regulated. J. Bacteriol. 169:3217–3223.
Drummond, M., Whitty, P., and Wootten, J., 1986, Sequence and domain relationships of ntrC and nifA from Klebsiella pneumoniae: homologies to other regulatory proteins, EMBO J. 5:441–447.
Gussin, G.N., Ronson, C.W., and Ausubel, F.M., 1986, Regulation of nitrogen fixation genes, Annu. Rev. Genet 20:567–591.
Hennecke, H. et al., 1987, In “Molecular Genetics of Plant-Microbe Interactions” (Eds. D.P.S. Verma and N. Brisson) (Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht). pp 191–196.
Hirschmann, J., Wong, P.-K., Sei, K., Keener, J., and Kustu, S., 1985, Products of nitrogen regulatory genes ntrA and ntrC of enteric bacteria activate glnA transcription in vitro: evidence that the ntrA product is a sigma factor, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:7525–7529.
Hunt, T.P., and Magasanik, B., 1985, Transcription of glnA by purified Escherichia coli components: core RNA polymerase and the products of glnF, glnG; and glnL, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:8453–8457.
Kim, C., Helinski, D.R., and Ditta, G., 1987, Overlapping regulatonof the nifA regulatory gene in Rhizobium meliloti. Gene 50:141–148.
Krikos, A., Mutoh, N., Boyd, A., and Simon, M.I., 1983, Sensory transducers of E. coli are composed of discrete structural and functional domains, Cell 33:615–622.
Kustu, S., Sei, K.,and Keener, J., Nitrogen regulation in enteric bacteria., In “Regulation of gene expression — 25 years on” (Eds. I. Booth and C. Higgins). (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp. 139–154.
Ninfa, A.J. and Magasanik, B., 1986, Covalent modification of the glnG product NRI, by the glnL product NRII, regulates the transcription of the glnALG operon in Escherichia coli, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:5909–5913.
Nixon, B.T., Ronson, C.W., and Ausubel, F.M., 1986, Two-component regulatory systems responsive to environmental stimuli share strongly conserved domains with the nitrogen assimilation regulatory genes ntrB and ntrC, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:7850–7854.
Reitzer, L.J. and Magasanik, B., 1986, Transcription of glnA in E. coli is stimulated by activator bound to sites far from the promoter, Cell 45:785–792.
Ronson, C.W. and Astwood, P.M., 1985, Genes involved in the carbon metabolism of bacteroids, in: “Nitrogen Fixation Research Progress,” P.J. Bottomley and W.E. Newton, eds., Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, pp. 201–207.
Ronson, C.W., Lyttleton, P.M., and Robertson, J.G., 1981, C4-dicarboxylate transport mutants of Rhizobium trifolii form ineffective nodules on Trifolium repens. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:4284–4288.
Ronson, C.W., Astwood, P.M., Nixon, B.T., and Ausubel, F.M. 1987a, submitted for publication.
Ronson, C.W., Nixon, B.T., Albright, L.M., and Ausubel, F.M., 1987b, Rhizobium meliloti ntrA (rpoN) gene is required for diverse metabolic functions, J. Bacteriol. 1657:2424–2431.
Ronson, C.W., Nixon, B.T., and Ausubel, F.M., 1987c, Conserved domains in bacterial regulatory proteins that respond to environmental stimuli, Cell 49:579–581.
Szeto, W.W., Zimmerman, J.L., Sundaresan, V., and Ausubel, F.M., 1984, A Rhizobium meliloti symbiotic regulatory gene. Cell 36:1035–1043.
Szeto, W.W., Nixon, B.T., Ronson, C.W., and Ausubel, F.M., 1987, Identification and characterization of the Rhizobium meliloti ntrC gene: R. meliloti has separate regulatory pathways for activation of nitrogen fixation genes in free-living and symbiotic cells. J. Bacteriol. 169:1423–1432.
Weber, G., Reilander, H., and Punier, A., 1985, Mapping and expression of a regulatory nitrogen fixation gene (fixD) of Rhizobium meliloti. EMBO J. 4:2751–2756.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels and Luxembourg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ronson, C.W. (1988). Regulation of Nitrogen Fixation in the Rhizobium Meliloti Alfalfa Symbiosis. In: O’Gara, F., Manian, S., Drevon, J.J. (eds) Physiological Limitations and the Genetic Improvement of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation. Advances in Agricultural Biotechnology, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1401-8_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1401-8_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7126-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1401-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive