Control of nitrogenase reactivation by the GlnZ protein in Azospirillum brasilense.

The glnZ mutant of Azospirillum brasilense (strain 7611) showed only partial recovery (20 to 40%) after 80 min of ammonia-induced nitrogenase switch-off, whereas the wild type recovered totally within 10 min. In contrast, the two strains showed identical anoxic-induced switch-on/switch-off, indicating no cross talk between the two reactivation mechanisms.

[Mechanisms for protecting nitrogenase from inactivation by oxygen]. / Mecanismos de protección de la nitrogenasa a la inactivación por oxígeno.

The biological fixation of dinitrogen is the most important way to access of N to organisms, this process requires a fairly high proportion of the ATP; which is generated in the course of respiratory electron transport reactions with O2 as electron acceptor. The Nitrogenase enzyme complex (the nitrogen. fixing enzyme) is sensitive to O2, that irreversible inactivates the enzyme. Diazotrophs must employ mechanisms which, on the other hand, permit the supply of O2 required for energy regeneration and protect Nase from the deleterious effect of O2. They have developed several strategies for limiting O2 access to Nase: 1).--It could avoid O2 and live in environments which are permanently anaerobic, 2).--Alternatively, it could generate a physical barrier around its Nase and in this way prevent O2 from diffusing to the enzyme, 3).--The microorganism could, by its metabolism, reduce the concentration of O2 within the vicinity of Nasa, 4).--They could modify its Nasa in such manner as to render it resistant to inactivation by O2 (conformational protection). 5).--Finally, the microorganism could simply balance Nasa inactivation with the synthesis of new enzyme. In this article we examine the antipathy between Nasa and O2, particularly with strict aerobic and photosynthetic microorganisms.

Posttranslational regulation of nitrogenase activity in Azospirillum brasilense ntrBC mutants: ammonium and anaerobic switch-off occurs through independent signal transduction pathways.

Nitrogenase activity is regulated by reversible ADP-ribosylation in response to NH4+ and anaerobic conditions in Azospirillum brasilense. The effect of mutations in ntrBC on this regulation was examined. While NH4+ addition to ntrBC mutants caused a partial loss of nitrogenase activity, the effect was substantially smaller than that seen in ntr+ strains. In contrast, nitrogenase activity in these mutants was normally regulated in response to anaerobic conditions. The analysis of mutants lacking both the ntrBC gene products and dinitrogenase reductase activating glycohydrolase (DRAG) suggested that the primary effect of the ntrBC mutations was to alter the regulation of DRAG activity. Although nif expression in the ntr mutants appeared normal, as judged by activity, glutamine synthetase activity was significantly lower in ntrBC mutants than in the wild type. We hypothesize that this lower glutamine synthetase activity may delay the transduction of the NH4+ signal necessary for the inactivation of DRAG, resulting in a reduced response of nitrogenase activity to NH4+. Finally, data presented here suggest that different environmental stimuli use independent signal pathways to affect this reversible ADP-ribosylation system.