Dataset Information

Nitrogen Fixation and Molecular Oxygen: Comparative Genomic Reconstruction of Transcription Regulation in Alphaproteobacteria.

ABSTRACT: Biological nitrogen fixation plays a crucial role in the nitrogen cycle. An ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, reducing it to ammonium, was described for multiple species of Bacteria and Archaea. The transcriptional regulatory network for nitrogen fixation was extensively studied in several representatives of the class Alphaproteobacteria. This regulatory network includes the activator of nitrogen fixation NifA, working in tandem with the alternative sigma-factor RpoN as well as oxygen-responsive regulatory systems, one-component regulators FnrN/FixK and two-component system FixLJ. Here we used a comparative genomics approach for in silico study of the transcriptional regulatory network in 50 genomes of Alphaproteobacteria. We extended the known regulons and proposed the scenario for the evolution of the nitrogen fixation transcriptional network. The reconstructed network substantially expands the existing knowledge of transcriptional regulation in nitrogen-fixing microorganisms and can be used for genetic experiments, metabolic reconstruction, and evolutionary analysis.

SUBMITTER: Tsoy OV

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4999443 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Nitrogen Fixation and Molecular Oxygen: Comparative Genomic Reconstruction of Transcription Regulation in Alphaproteobacteria.

Tsoy Olga V OV Ravcheev Dmitry A DA Čuklina Jelena J Gelfand Mikhail S MS

Frontiers in microbiology 20160826

Biological nitrogen fixation plays a crucial role in the nitrogen cycle. An ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, reducing it to ammonium, was described for multiple species of Bacteria and Archaea. The transcriptional regulatory network for nitrogen fixation was extensively studied in several representatives of the class Alphaproteobacteria. This regulatory network includes the activator of nitrogen fixation NifA, working in tandem with the alternative sigma-factor RpoN as well as oxygen-respons ...[more]

PMID: 27617010

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Project description:Previously, we reported finding duplicated fixNOQP operons in Rhizobium etli CFN42. One of these duplicated operons is located in the symbiotic plasmid (fixNOQPd), while the other is located in a cryptic plasmid (fixNOQPf). Although a novel FixL-FixKf regulatory cascade participates in microaerobic expression of both fixNOQP duplicated operons, we found that a mutation in fixL eliminates fixNOQPf expression but has only a moderate effect on expression of fixNOQPd. This suggests that there are differential regulatory controls. Interestingly, only the fixNOQPd operon was essential for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (L. Girard, S. Brom, A. Dávalos, O. Lopez, M. Soberón, and D. Romero, Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 13:1283-1292, 2000). Searching for potential candidates responsible for the differential expression, we characterized two fnrN homologs (encoding transcriptional activators of the cyclic AMP receptor protein [CRP]-Fnr family) in R. etli CFN42. One of these genes (fnrNd) is located on the symbiotic plasmid, while the other (fnrNchr) is located on the chromosome. Analysis of the expression of the fnrN genes using transcriptional fusions with lacZ showed that the two fnrN genes are differentially regulated, since only fnrNd is expressed in microaerobic cultures of the wild-type strain while fnrNchr is negatively controlled by FixL. Mutagenesis of the two fnrN genes showed that both genes participate, in conjunction with FixL-FixKf, in the microaerobic induction of the fixNOQPd operon. Participation of these genes is also seen during the symbiotic process, in which mutations in fnrNd and fnrNchr, either singly or in combination, lead to reductions in nitrogen fixation. Therefore, R. etli employs a regulatory circuit for induction of the fixNOQPd operon that involves at least three transcriptional regulators of the CRP-Fnr family. This regulatory circuit may be important for ensuring optimal production of the cbb(3), terminal oxidase during symbiosis.

Dataset Information

Nitrogen Fixation and Molecular Oxygen: Comparative Genomic Reconstruction of Transcription Regulation in Alphaproteobacteria.

Publications

Nitrogen Fixation and Molecular Oxygen: Comparative Genomic Reconstruction of Transcription Regulation in Alphaproteobacteria.

Similar Datasets

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