Characterization of an ammonium transport protein from the peribacteroid membrane of soybean nodules.

Nitrogen-fixing bacteroids in legume root nodules are surrounded by the plant-derived peribacteroid membrane, which controls nutrient transfer between the symbionts. A nodule complementary DNA (GmSAT1) encoding an ammonium transporter has been isolated from soybean. GmSAT1 is preferentially transcribed in nodules and immunoblotting indicates that GmSAT1 is located on the peribacteroid membrane. [14C]methylammonium uptake and patch-clamp analysis of yeast expressing GmSAT1 demonstrated that it shares properties with a soybean peribacteroid membrane NH4^{+ channel described elsewhere. GmSAT1 is likely to be involved in the transfer of fixed nitrogen from the bacteroid to the host.}

Activity of nitrogenase and glutamine synthetase in relation to availability of oxygen in continuous cultures of a strain of cowpea Rhizobium sp. supplied with excess ammonium.

In samples from nitrogen-fixing continuous cultures of strain CB756 of the cowpea type rhizobia (Rhizobium sp.), newly fixed NH+4 is in equiblibrium with the medium, from where it is assimilated by the glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase pathway. In samples from steady state cultures with different degrees of oxygen-limitation, nitrogenase activity was positively correlated with the biosynthetic of glutamine synthetase in cell free extracts. Also, activities in biosynthetic assays were positively correlated with activities in gamma-glutamyl transferase assays containing 60 mM Mg2+. Relative adenylylation of glutamine synthetase was conveniently measured in cell free extracts as the ratio of gamma-glutamyl transferase activities without and with addition of 60 mM Mg2+. Automatic control of oxygen supply was used to facilitate the study of transitions between steady-state continuous cultures with high and low nitrogenase activities. Adenylylation of glutamine synthetase and repression of nitrogenase activity in the presence of excess NH+4, were masked when oxygen strongly limited culture yield. Partial relief of the limitation in cultures supplied with 10 mM NH+4 produced early decline in nitrogenase activity and increase in relative adenylylation of glutamine synthetase. Decreased oxygen supply produced a rapid decline in relative adenylylation, followed by increased nitrogenase activity, supporting the concept that control of nitrogenase synthesis is modulated by glutamine synthetase adenylylation in these bacteria.

Nitrogenase activity and respiration of cultures of Rhizobium spp. with special reference to concentrations of dissolved oxygen.

Studies of nitrogenase in cultures of the cowpea rhizobia (Rhizobium spp.) strains 32H1 and CB756 are reported. Preliminary experiments established that, even when agar cultures were grown in air, suspensions of bacteria prepared anaerobically from them were most active at low concentrations of free dissolved O2. Consequently, assays for activity used low concentrations of O2, stabilized by adding the nodule pigment leghaemoglobin. In continuous, glutamine-limited cultures of 32H1, nitrogenase activity appeared only when the concentration of dissolved O2 in the cultures approached 1 muM. Lowering the glutamine concentration in the medium supplied to the culture from 2 to 1 mM halved the cell yield and nitrogenase activity was also diminished. Omitting succinate from the medium caused the concentration of dissolved O2 to rise and nitrogenase activity was lost. Upon restoration of the succinate supply, the O2 concentration immediately fell and nitrogenase was restored. The activity doubled in about 8 h, whereas the doubling time of this culture was 14 h. Sonic extracts of 32H1 cells from continuous cultures with active nitrogenase contained components reacting with antiserum against nitrogenase Mo-Fe protein from soybean bacteroids. Continuous cultures grown at higher O2 concentration, with only a trace of active nitrogenase, contained less of these antigens and they were not detected in highly aerobic cultures. Nitrogenase activity of a continuous culture was repressed by NH+4; the apparent half-life was about 90 min. Cells of 32H1 from a continuous culture growing at between 30 and 100 muM dissolved O2 possessed a protective mechanism which permitted respiration to increase following exposure to a rapid increase in O2 concentration from low levels (O2 shock). This effect disappeared as the O2 concentration for growth was reduced towards 1 muM.

Supply of O2 regulates O2 demand during utilization of reserves of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate in N2-fixing soybean bacteroids.

A liquid reaction medium containing dissolved air and oxyleghaemoglobin, but no energy-yielding substrate, was supplied to bacteroids confined in a stirred flow reaction chamber. The relative oxygenation of the leghaemoglobin in the chamber was determined automatically by spectrophotometry of the effluent solution, and the concentrations of free, dissolved O2 ([O2]) and rates of O2 consumption were calculated. Dissolved CO2 and NH3 from N2 fixation were determined in fractions of the effluent solution. Bacteroids utilized endogenous reserves of poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), which were depleted by 9.2% during a typical 5 h-long experiment. Stepwise increases in flow rate (increasing supply of O2) initially produced a drop in O2 demand and resulted in a rise in [O2] and a decline in N2 fixation. Subsequently, O2 demand rose (presumably because of increased mobilization of substrate from PHB) and [O2] declined to a low level. N2 fixation was fully restored, or even enhanced, within 15-20 min of establishment of a new, steady [O2]. This pattern of regulation by O2 supply was completely eliminated by adding low concentrations (20-50 microM) of oxidizable substrate (succinate, malate, ethanol) to the reaction medium. During endogenous activity, rates of CO2 evolution were proportional to, but less than, rates of O2 consumption up to 5.4 nmol O2 min-1 mg-1, above which CO2 evolution exceeded O2 consumption. These and other features of endogenous activity are discussed in relation to sustaining N2 fixation by nodules in vivo.

Leghaemoglobin and the supply of O2 to nitrogen-fixing root nodule bacteroids: presence of two oxidase systems and ATP production at low free O2 concentration.

Studies of rates of consumption of dissolved O2 by suspensions of bacteroids (Rhizobium japonicum, strain CB1809) from soybean root nodules showed the presence of two different terminal oxidase systems. A high-affinity system, sensitive to inhibition by N-phenylimidazole and by carbon monoxide, was most active when the dissolved O2 was between 0-01 and 0-1 muM. At 1 muM-O2 or higher, this oxidase system had little activity and O2 was consumed largely by a low-affinity system insensitive to these inhibitors. At low concentrations of dissolved O2, bacteroid respiration rates appeared to be diffusion-limited. When purified oxyleghaemoglobin was added to such systems, this restriction was relieved and respiration was maintained to much lower concentrations of free dissolved O2, where nitrogenase activity was greatest. Analysis of reactions which were terminated at various stages during the depletion of O2 from oxyleghaemoglobin showed that at low free O2 concentration, the high-affinity pathway produced up to five times greater bacteroid ATP concentrations than the low-affinity oxidase pathway operating about 1 muM free O2 in the absence of leghaemoglobin. At intermediate free O2 concentrations, occurring during the later stages of deoxygenation of oxymyoglobin, intermediate concentrations of ATP were found in the bacteroids.

Leghaemoglobin within bacteroid-enclosing membrane envelopes from soybean root nodules.

Methods are reported for the preparation from soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) root nodules, of well-washed, intact membrane envelopes containing bacteroids. The intact envelopes are of much lower density than the bacteroids within and therefore only low speed centrifugation (approx. 150 g) may be used. The optimum osmotic strength is 600 mOsm/kg H2O. The envelope contents were recovered following mild osmotic shock and-or hard centrifugal packing at >10,000 g. Extracts prepared in this way contained leghaemoglobin (identified spectrophotometrically), low-molecular-weight fluorescent materials and other components which are yet to be identified. Envelope leghaemoglobin did not react with specific antibody until the envelopes were ruptured. (131)I-Labelled leghaemoglobin or bovine serum albumin, added during initial breakage of nodule cells, was not released when envelopes were ruptured to release leghaemoglobin. It is therefore concluded that this leghaemoglobin is located within the envelope space and did not arise from adhering or occluded cytosol leghaemoglobin. Based on the number and dimensions of microscopically intact envelopes in these preparations, the concentration within that space was in the range 178-523 µM. Based on these estimates, leghaemoglobin within envelopes represented about one third of the total amount present in the nodule cells. Flat-bed isoelectric focusing of partially-purified envelope leghaemoglobin demonstrated that the latter contained all of the leghaemoglobin components previously reported for soybean nodules and an additional minor component focusing between leghaemoglobins a and b.

Kinetic studies of nitrogenase from soya-bean root-nodule bacteroids.

The apparent Michaelis constants [K'(N(2)) and K'(C(2)H(2))] and the corresponding apparent maximum velocity values (V') for soya-bean bacteroid nitrogenase increased concomitantly in response to increases in nitrogenase Fe-protein concentration and ATP concentration in cell-free assays and in response to O(2) pressure in intact nodules and bacteroid suspensions. K'(C(2)H(2)) in cell-free assays was also affected by pH and by Na(2)S(2)O(4) concentration. Nitrogenase Fe-protein behaved as a catalytic effector reacting at interacting sites on the nitrogenase Fe-Mo-protein. The results indicated that the Fe-Mo-protein probably bears the catalytic sites for N(2) and C(2)H(2) reduction. It is concluded that reduction of N(2) or C(2)H(2) by this nitrogenase involves a reaction mechanism with a sequence of unknown order. The sequence in which substrate, enzyme, effector, ATP and reductant react determines which of the various rate-constants are involved in the apparent Michaelis constant, whose true kinetic meaning was thus unresolved.

The relationship between nitrogen fixation and the production of HD from D2 by cell-free extracts of soya-bean nodule bacteroids.

1. Cell-free extracts prepared from soya-bean nodule bacteroids produced HD from D(2) in the presence of dithionite, an ATP-generating system and nitrogen. 2. Crude extracts of bacteroids or of Azotobacter vinelandii showed some background D(2) exchange when any one of these was omitted. 3. Partial purification of bacteroid extracts diminished this background activity and gave increased D(2) exchange and nitrogen fixation. 4. Although increasing pN(2) stimulated both reactions, the apparent K(m) (N(2)) for nitrogen fixation was much higher than the apparent K(m) (N(2)) for D(2) exchange when partially purified bacteroid extracts were used. 5. Carbon monoxide was a competitive inhibitor of nitrogen fixation by partially purified bacteroid extracts, but D(2) exchange was inhibited in a non-competitive fashion. 6. These results are discussed in relation to the possible existence of enzyme-bound intermediates of nitrogen fixation.

Electron microscopy of the infection and subsequent development of soybean nodule cells.

Goodchild, D. J. (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Canberra, Australia), and F. J. Bergersen. Electron microscopy of the infection and subsequent development of soybean nodule cells. J. Bacteriol. 92:204-213. 1966-Electron microscopy of thin sections of the developing central tissue cells of young soybean root nodules has shown that infection is initiated by a few infection threads which penetrate cells of the young central tissue. Extension growth of the threads may be a result of pressure developed from the growth of the bacteria within the threads. Release of bacteria from a thread is preceded by the development on an infection thread of a bulge with a cellulose-free membrane-bounded extension; bacteria move from this into the host cells by an endocytotic process and remain enclosed in an infection vacuole which is bounded by a membrane of host-cell origin. Multiplication of the intracellular bacteria takes place within these vacuoles. Until the host cell becomes filled with bacteria, the vacuoles separate into discrete units at each division. Later, division of the bacteria occurs within each vacuole, thus leading to the mature structure of the central tissue cells in which several bacteria are enclosed within each membrane-bounded unit.

Influence of low oxygen concentration on derepression of nitrogenase in Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Effects of oxygen derepression of nitrogenase were studied in Klebsiella pneumoniae, using oxyleghaemoglobin to supply and monitor very low dissolved O2 concentrations in a steady-state system. Expression of the nifH gene was studied by using a nifH::lac fusion strain, which aslo carried the Nif+ plasmid pRD1 so that the production of active nitrogenase could also be monitored. When compared with anaerobic treatments, very low concentrations of dissolved O2 inhibited derepression of both nifH::lac and pRD1 nif. Fifty percent inhibition of derepression occurred at 0.1 microM-O2. The apparent Ks of the dominant terminal oxidase was 0.08 microM-O2. These results suggest that there is a close relationship between the terminal respiratory system of these bacteria and the repression of nitrogenase by O2.

Measurement of nitrogen fixation by soybean in the field using the ureide and natural N abundance methods.

Nitrogen fixation by field-grown soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill) was assessed by the natural (15)N abundance and ureide methods. The field sites (five) and genotypes (six, plus two levels of inoculation on Bragg) were chosen to provide a range of proportions of plant N derived from nitrogen fixation (P). Genotypes K466, K468, nts1007, and nts1116 and Davis were included on the basis of their reported tolerance of the suppressive effects of nitrate on nodulation and nitrogen fixation. Bragg was included as a ;nitrate-sensitive' genotype. Seeds of all genotypes were inoculated at sowing with Bradyrhizobium japonicum CB1809 (USDA136). Amounts of nitrate in the soil profile (0-1.2 meter depth) at sowing ranged from 70 (site 3) to 278 kilograms per hectare (site 5), resulting in large effects on plant nodulation, on the delta(15)N values of nodulated plants, on the relative abundance of ureide-N in vacuum-extracted sap (VES) and stem extracts, and finally on the estimates of P. There was no relationship between amount of soil nitrate at sowing and the delta(15)N of the plant-available soil N. Correlation matrices of the measured and calculated parameters indicated generally weak correlations between crop growth (dry matter and N) and the parameters of symbiotic activity (nodule weight, delta(15)N, relative ureide-N); correlations were strong and highly significant between nodulation and the measures of nitrogen fixation (delta(15)N, relative ureide-N; r = 0.79-0.92). Estimates of P ranged between 0 and 68% (delta(15)N) and between 6 and 56% (ureide) and were highly correlated (r = 0.97). Results indicated that the ureide method can be used with confidence to assess P by field-grown crops of soybean.

Synthesis and activity of nitrogenase in Klebsiella pneumoniae exposed to low concentrations of oxygen.

Effects of very low concentrations of dissolved O2 on nitrogenase activity in Klebsiella pneumoniae were studied in a stirred chamber system which enabled simultaneous measurements of steady-state O2 concentrations, O2 consumption and C2H2 reduction. A strain carrying a chromosomal nifH::lac fusion as well as the Nif+ plasmid pRD1, expressed nitrogenase activity with 80 nM-O2, a concentration known to inhibit nifH::lac expression by about 50% Thus nitrogenase activity in vivo was no more sensitive to O2 than expression of nifH::lac. When compared with anaerobic treatments, dissolved O2 near 30 nM apparently stimulated nitrogenase derepression and enhanced the activity of nitrogenase synthesized anaerobically. Thus, in this organism, N2 fixation occurs in microaerobic as well as anaerobic conditions.

Catabolism of alpha-ketoglutarate by a sucA mutant of Bradyrhizobium japonicum: evidence for an alternative tricarboxylic acid cycle.

A complete tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle is generally considered necessary for energy production from the dicarboxylic acid substrates malate, succinate, and fumarate. However, a Bradyrhizobium japonicum sucA mutant that is missing alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase is able to grow on malate as its sole source of carbon. This mutant also fixes nitrogen in symbiosis with soybean, where dicarboxylic acids are its principal carbon substrate. Using a flow chamber system to make direct measurements of oxygen consumption and ammonium excretion, we confirmed that bacteroids formed by the sucA mutant displayed wild-type rates of respiration and nitrogen fixation. Despite the absence of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase activity, whole cells of the mutant were able to decarboxylate alpha-[U-(14)C]ketoglutarate and [U-(14)C]glutamate at rates similar to those of wild-type B. japonicum, indicating that there was an alternative route for alpha-ketoglutarate catabolism. Because cell extracts from B. japonicum decarboxylated [U-(14)C]glutamate very slowly, the gamma-aminobutyrate shunt is unlikely to be the pathway responsible for alpha-ketoglutarate catabolism in the mutant. In contrast, cell extracts from both the wild type and mutant showed a coenzyme A (CoA)-independent alpha-ketoglutarate decarboxylation activity. This activity was independent of pyridine nucleotides and was stimulated by thiamine PP(i). Thin-layer chromatography showed that the product of alpha-ketoglutarate decarboxylation was succinic semialdehyde. The CoA-independent alpha-ketoglutarate decarboxylase, along with succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, may form an alternative pathway for alpha-ketoglutarate catabolism, and this pathway may enhance TCA cycle function during symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

Nitrogen Nutrition and Xylem Sap Composition of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L. cv Virginia Bunch).

The principal forms of amino nitrogen transported in xylem were studied in nodulated and non-nodulated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.). In symbiotic plants, asparagine and the nonprotein amino acid, 4-methyleneglutamine, were identified as the major components of xylem exudate collected from root systems decapitated below the lowest nodule or above the nodulated zone. Sap bleeding from detached nodules carried 80% of its nitrogen as asparagine and less than 1% as 4-methyleneglutamine. Pulse-feeding nodulated roots with (15)N(2) gas showed asparagine to be the principal nitrogen product exported from N(2)-fixing nodules. Maintaining root systems in an N(2)-deficient (argon:oxygen, 80:20, v/v) atmosphere for 3 days greatly depleted asparagine levels in nodules. 4-Methyleneglutamine represented 73% of the total amino nitrogen in the xylem sap of non-nodulated plants grown on nitrogen-free nutrients, but relative levels of this compound decreased and asparagine increased when nitrate was supplied. The presence of 4-methyleneglutamine in xylem exudate did not appear to be associated with either N(2) fixation or nitrate assimilation, and an origin from cotyledon nitrogen was suggested from study of changes in amount of the compound in tissue amino acid pools and in root bleeding xylem sap following germination. Changes in xylem sap composition were studied in nodulated plants receiving a range of levels of (15)N-nitrate, and a (15)N dilution technique was used to determine the proportions of accumulated plant nitrogen derived from N(2) or fed nitrate. The abundance of asparagine in xylem sap and the ratio of asparagine:nitrate fell, while the ratio of nitrate:total amino acid rose as plants derived less of their organic nitrogen from N(2). Assays based on xylem sap composition are suggested as a means of determining the relative extents to which N(2) and nitrate are being used in peanuts.