Three transcription regulators of the Nss family mediate the adaptive response induced by nitrate, nitric oxide or nitrous oxide in Wolinella succinogenes.

Sensing potential nitrogen-containing respiratory substrates such as nitrate, nitrite, hydroxylamine, nitric oxide (NO) or nitrous oxide (N2 O) in the environment and subsequent upregulation of corresponding catabolic enzymes is essential for many microbial cells. The molecular mechanisms of such adaptive responses are, however, highly diverse in different species. Here, induction of periplasmic nitrate reductase (Nap), cytochrome c nitrite reductase (Nrf) and cytochrome c N2 O reductase (cNos) was investigated in cells of the Epsilonproteobacterium Wolinella succinogenes grown either by fumarate, nitrate or N2 O respiration. Furthermore, fumarate respiration in the presence of various nitrogen compounds or NO-releasing chemicals was examined. Upregulation of each of the Nap, Nrf and cNos enzyme systems was found in response to the presence of nitrate, NO-releasers or N2 O, and the cells were shown to employ three transcription regulators of the Crp-Fnr superfamily (homologues of Campylobacter jejuni NssR), designated NssA, NssB and NssC, to mediate the upregulation of Nap, Nrf and cNos. Analysis of single nss mutants revealed that NssA controls production of the Nap and Nrf systems in fumarate-grown cells, while NssB was required to induce the Nap, Nrf and cNos systems specifically in response to NO-generators. NssC was indispensable for cNos production under any tested condition. The data indicate dedicated signal transduction routes responsive to nitrate, NO and N2 O and imply the presence of an N2 O-sensing mechanism.

Laue crystal structure of Shewanella oneidensis cytochrome c nitrite reductase from a high-yield expression system.

The high-yield expression and purification of Shewanella oneidensis cytochrome c nitrite reductase (ccNiR) and its characterization by a variety of methods, notably Laue crystallography, are reported. A key component of the expression system is an artificial ccNiR gene in which the N-terminal signal peptide from the highly expressed S. oneidensis protein "small tetraheme c" replaces the wild-type signal peptide. This gene, inserted into the plasmid pHSG298 and expressed in S. oneidensis TSP-1 strain, generated approximately 20 mg crude ccNiR per liter of culture, compared with 0.5-1 mg/L for untransformed cells. Purified ccNiR has nitrite and hydroxylamine reductase activities comparable to those previously reported for Escherichia coli ccNiR, and is stable for over 2 weeks in pH 7 solution at 4 °C. UV/vis spectropotentiometric titrations and protein film voltammetry identified five independent one-electron reduction processes. Global analysis of the spectropotentiometric data also allowed determination of the extinction coefficient spectra for the five reduced ccNiR species. The characteristics of the individual extinction coefficient spectra suggest that, within each reduced species, the electrons are distributed among the various hemes, rather than being localized on specific heme centers. The purified ccNiR yielded good-quality crystals, with which the 2.59-Å-resolution structure was solved at room temperature using the Laue diffraction method. The structure is similar to that of E. coli ccNiR, except in the region where the enzyme interacts with its physiological electron donor (CymA in the case of S. oneidensis ccNiR, NrfB in the case of the E. coli protein).

Production of recombinant multiheme cytochromes c in Wolinella succinogenes.

Respiratory nitrogen cycle processes like nitrification, nitrate reduction, denitrification, nitrite ammonification, or anammox involve a variety of dissimilatory enzymes and redox-active cofactors. In this context, an intriguing protein class are cytochromes c, that is, enzymes containing one or more covalently bound heme groups that are attached to heme c binding motifs (HBMs) of apo-cytochromes. The key enzyme of the corresponding maturation process is cytochrome c heme lyase (CCHL), an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of two thioether linkages between two vinyl side chains of a heme and two cysteine residues arranged in the HBM. In recent years, many multiheme cytochromes c involved in nitrogen cycle processes, such as hydroxylamine oxidoreductase and cytochrome c nitrite reductase, have attracted particular interest. Structurally, these enzymes exhibit conserved heme packing motifs despite displaying very different enzymic properties and largely unrelated primary structures. The functional and structural characterization of cytochromes c demands their purification in sufficient amounts as well as the feasibility to generate site-directed enzyme variants. For many interesting organisms, however, such systems are not available, mainly hampered by genetic inaccessibility, slow growth rates, insufficient cell yields, and/or a low capacity of cytochrome c formation. Efficient heterologous cytochrome c overproduction systems have been established using the unrelated proteobacterial species Escherichia coli and Wolinella succinogenes. In contrast to E. coli, W. succinogenes uses the cytochrome c biogenesis system II and contains a unique set of three specific CCHL isoenzymes that belong to the unusual CcsBA-type. Here, W. succinogenes is presented as host for cytochrome c overproduction focusing on a recently established gene expression system designed for large-scale production of multiheme cytochromes c.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains expressing nitrate reductase under control of the cabII-1 promoter: isolation of chlorate resistant mutants and identification of new loci for nitrate assimilation.

The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strain Tx11-8 is a transgenic alga that bears the nitrate reductase gene (Nia1) under control of the CabII-1 gene promoter (CabII-1-Nia1). Approximately nine copies of the chimeric CabII-1-Nia1 gene were found to be integrated in this strain and to confer a phenotype of chlorate sensitivity in the presence of ammonium. We have used this strain for the isolation of spontaneous chlorate resistant mutants in the presence of ammonium that were found to be defective at loci involved in MoCo metabolism and light-dependent growth in nitrate media. Of a total of 45 mutant strains analyzed first, 44 were affected in the MoCo activity (16 Nit(-), unable to grow in nitrate, and 28 Nit(+), able to grow in nitrate). All the Nit(-) strains lacked MoCo activity. Diploid complementation of Nit(-), MoCo(-) strains with C. reinhardtii MoCo mutants and genetic analysis indicated that some strains were defective at known loci for MoCo biosynthesis, while three strains were defective at two new loci, hereafter named Nit10 and Nit11. The other 28 Nit(+) strains showed almost undetectable MoCo activity or activity was below 20% of the parental strain. Second, only one strain (named 23c(+)) showed MoCo and NR activities comparable to those in the parental strain. Strain 23c(+) seems to be affected in a locus, Nit12, required for growth in nitrate under continuous light. It is proposed that this locus is required for nitrate/chlorate transport activity. In this work, mechanisms of chlorate toxicity are reviewed in the light of our results.

Differential regulation of periplasmic nitrate reductase gene (napKEFDABC) expression between aerobiosis and anaerobiosis with nitrate in a denitrifying phototroph Rhodobacter sphaeroides f. sp. denitrificans.

A denitrifying phototroph, Rhodobacter sphaeroides f. sp. denitrificans, has the ability to denitrify by respiring nitrate. The periplasmic respiratory nitrate reductase (Nap) catalyses the first step in denitrification and is encoded by the genes, napKEFDABC. By assaying the ss-galactosidase activity of napKEFD-lacZ fusions in wild type and nap mutant cells grown under various growth conditions, the environmental signal for inducing nap expression was examined. Under anoxic conditions with nitrate, nap genes expression in the wild-type strain was highest in the dark, and somewhat lowered by incident light, but that of the napA, napB, and napC mutant strains was low, showing that nap expression is dependent on nitrate respiration. Under oxic conditions, both the wild type and nap mutant cells showed high ss-galactosidase activities, comparable to the wild-type grown under anoxic conditions with nitrate. Myxothiazol, a specific inhibitor of the cytochrome bc (1) complex, did not affect the beta-galactosidase activity in the wild-type cells grown aerobically, suggesting that the redox state of the quinone pool was not a candidate for the activation signal for aerobic nap expression. These results suggested that the trans-acting regulatory signals for nap expression differ between anoxic and oxic conditions. Deletion analysis showed that the nucleotide sequence from -135 to -88 with respect to the translational start point is essential for nap expression either under anoxic or oxic conditions, suggesting that the same cis-acting element is involved in regulating nap expression under either anoxic with nitrate or oxic conditions.

The endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica stimulates the expression of nitrate reductase and the starch-degrading enzyme glucan-water dikinase in tobacco and Arabidopsis roots through a homeodomain transcription factor that binds to a conserved motif in their promoters.

Piriformospora indica, an endophytic fungus of the Sebacinaceae family, promotes growth of Arabidopsis and tobacco seedlings and stimulates nitrogen accumulation and the expression of the genes for nitrate reductase and the starch-degrading enzyme glucan-water dikinase (SEX1) in roots. Neither growth promotion nor stimulation of the two enzymes requires heterotrimeric G proteins. P. indica also stimulates the expression of the uidA gene under the control of the Arabidopsis nitrate reductase (Nia2) promoter in transgenic tobacco seedlings. At least two regions (-470/-439 and -103/-89) are important for Nia2 promoter activity in tobacco roots. One of the regions contains an element, ATGATAGATAAT, that binds to a homeodomain transcription factor in vitro. The message for this transcription factor is up-regulated by P. indica. The transcription factor also binds to a CTGATAGATCT segment in the SEX1 promoter in vitro. We propose that the growth-promoting effect initiated by P. indica is accompanied by a co-regulated stimulation of enzymes involved in nitrate and starch metabolisms.

Evidence for an EPR-detectable semiquinone intermediate stabilized in the membrane-bound subunit NarI of nitrate reductase A (NarGHI) from Escherichia coli.

Nitrate reductase A (NRA, NarGHI) is expressed in Escherichia coli by growing the bacterium in anaerobic conditions in the presence of nitrate. This enzyme reduces nitrate to nitrite and uses menaquinol (or ubiquinol) as the electron donor. The location of quinones in the enzyme, their number, and their role in the electron transfer mechanism are still controversial. In this work, we have investigated the spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties of a semiquinone (SQ) in membrane samples of overexpressed E. coli nitrate reductase poised in appropriate redox conditions. This semiquinone is highly stabilized with respect to free semiquinone. The g-values determined from the numerical simulation of its Q-band (35 GHz) EPR spectrum are equal to 2.0061, 2.0051, 2.0023. The midpoint potential of the Q/QH(2) couple is about -100 mV, and the SQ stability constant is about 100 at pH 7.5. The semiquinone EPR signal disappears completely upon addition of the quinol binding site inhibitor 2-n-nonyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide (NQNO). A semiquinone radical could also be stabilized in preparations where only the NarI membrane subunit is overexpressed in the absence of the NarGH catalytic dimer. Its thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties show only slight variations with those of the wild-type enzyme. The X-band continuous wave (cw) electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) spectra of the radicals display similar proton hyperfine coupling patterns in NarGHI and in NarI, showing that they arise from the same semiquinone species bound to a single site located in the NarI membrane subunit. These results are discussed with regard to the location and the potential function of quinones in the enzyme.

Heterologous metalloprotein biosynthesis in Escherichia coli: conditions for the overproduction of functional copper-containing nitrite reductase and azurin from Alcaligenes xylosoxidans.

This paper reports on the optimization of conditions for the overproduction and isolation of two recombinant copper metalloproteins, originally encoded on the chromosome of the dentrifying soil bacterium Alcaligenes xylosoxidans, in the heterologous host Escherichia coli. The trimeric enzyme nitrite reductase (NiR) contains both type-1 and type-2 Cu centres, whilst its putative redox partner, azurin I, is monomeric and has only a type-1 Cu centre. Both proteins were processed and exported to the periplasm of E. coli, which is consistent with their periplasmic location in their native host A. xylosoxidans. NiR could be readily purified from the periplasmic fraction of E. coli but the enzyme as isolated possessed only type-1 Cu centres. The type-2 Cu centre could be fully reconstituted by incubation of the periplasmic fraction with copper sulfate prior to enzyme purification. Azurin I could only be isolated with a fully occupied type-1 centre when isolated from the crude cell extract but not after isolation from the periplasmic fraction, suggesting loss of the copper due to proteolysis. Based on a number of criteria, including spectroscopic, mass spectrometric, biochemical and structural analyses, both recombinant proteins were found to be indistinguishable from their native counterparts isolated from A. xylosoxidans. The findings of this work have important implications for the overproduction of recombinant metalloproteins in heterologous hosts.

Involvement of the molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic machinery in the maturation of the Escherichia coli nitrate reductase A.

The maturation of Escherichia coli nitrate reductase A requires the incorporation of the Mo-(bis-MGD) cofactor to the apoprotein. For this process, the NarJ chaperone is strictly required. We report the first description of protein interactions between molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic proteins (MogA, MoeA, MobA, and MobB) and the aponitrate reductase (NarG) using a bacterial two-hybrid approach. Two conditions have to be satisfied to allow the visualization of the interactions, (i) the presence of an active and mature molybdenum cofactor and (ii) the presence of the NarJ chaperone and of the NarG structural partner subunit, NarH. Formation of tungsten-substituted cofactor prevents the interaction between NarG and the four biosynthetic proteins. Our results suggested that the final stages of molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis occur on a complex made up by MogA, MoeA, MobA, and MobB, which is also in charge with the delivery of the mature cofactor onto the aponitrate reductase A in a NarJ-assisted process.

Induction of poplar leaf nitrate reductase: a test of extrachloroplastic control of isoprene emission rate.

Several recent studies have suggested that control of isoprene emission rate is in part exerted by supply of extrachloroplastic phosphoenolpyruvate to the chloroplast. To test this hypothesis, we altered PEP supply by differential induction of cytosolic nitrate reductase (NR) and PEP carboxylase (PEPC) in plants of Populus deltoides grown with NO3- or NH4+ as the sole nitrogen source. Growth with 8 mM NH4+ produced a high leaf nitrogen concentration, compared with 8 mM NO3-, as well as slightly elevated rates of photosynthesis and significantly enhanced rates of isoprene emission and content of dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP, a precursor to isoprene biosynthesis), chlorophyll (a+b) and carotenoids. Growth with 8 mM NO3- resulted in parallel reductions in both leaf isoprene emission rate and DMAPP. The differential effects of growth with NH4+ or NO3- were not observed when plants were grown with 4 mM nitrogen. The effects of reduced DMAPP availability were specific to isoprene emission and were not propagated to higher isoprenoids, as the correlations between nitrogen content and either leaf chlorophyll (a+b) or total carotenoids were unaffected by nitrogen source. Biochemical analysis revealed significantly higher levels of NR and PEPC activity in leaves of 8 mM NO3- -grown plants, consistent with their fundamental roles in nitrate assimilation. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that foliar assimilation of NO3- reduces isoprene emission rate by competing for carbon skeletons (mediated by PEPC) within the cytosol and possibly reductant within the chloroplast. Cytosolic competition for PEP is a major regulator of chloroplast DMAPP supply, and we offer a new "safety valve" hypothesis to explain why plants emit isoprene.

Properties of the periplasmic nitrate reductases from Paracoccus pantotrophus and Escherichia coli after growth in tungsten-supplemented media.

Paracoccus pantotrophus grown anaerobically under denitrifying conditions expressed similar levels of the periplasmic nitrate reductase (NAP) when cultured in molybdate- or tungstate-containing media. A native PAGE gel stained for nitrate reductase activity revealed that only NapA from molybdate-grown cells displayed readily detectable nitrate reductase activity. Further kinetic analysis showed that the periplasmic fraction from cells grown on molybdate (3 microM) reduced nitrate at a rate of V(max)=3.41+/-0.16 micromol [NO(3)(-)] min(-1) mg(-1) with an affinity for nitrate of K(m)=0.24+/-0.05 mM and was heat-stable up to 50 degrees C. In contrast, the periplasmic fraction obtained from cells cultured in media supplemented with tungstate (100 microM) reduced nitrate at a much slower rate, with much lower affinity (V(max)=0.05+/-0.002 micromol [NO(3)(-)] min(-1) mg(-1) and K(m)=3.91+/-0.45 mM) and was labile during prolonged incubation at >20 degrees C. Nitrate-dependent growth of Escherichia coli strains expressing only nitrate reductase A was inhibited by sub-mM concentrations of tungstate in the medium. In contrast, a strain expressing only NAP was only partially inhibited by 10 mM tungstate. However, none of the above experimental approaches revealed evidence that tungsten could replace molybdenum at the active site of E. coli NapA. The combined data show that tungsten can function at the active site of some, but not all, molybdoenzymes from mesophilic bacteria.

A cytochrome c encoded by the nar operon is required for the synthesis of active respiratory nitrate reductase in Thermus thermophilus.

A cytochrome c (NarC) is encoded as the first gene of the operon for nitrate respiration in Thermus thermophilus. NarC is required for anaerobic growth and for the synthesis of active nitrate reductase (NR). The alpha and delta subunits (NarG, NarJ) of the NR were constitutively expressed in narC::kat mutants, but NarG appeared in the soluble fraction instead of associated with the membranes. Our data demonstrate for NarC an essential role in the synthesis of active enzyme and for the attachment to the membrane of the respiratory NR from T. thermophilus.

Synthesis and bacterial expression of a gene encoding the heme domain of assimilatory nitrate reductase.

Assimilatory NADH:nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.1), a complex Mo-pterin-, cytochrome b(557)-, and FAD-containing protein, catalyzes the regulated and rate-limiting step in the utilization of inorganic nitrogen by higher plants. A codon-optimized gene has been synthesized for expression of the central cytochrome b(557)-containing fragment, corresponding to residues A542-E658, of spinach assimilatory nitrate reductase. While expression of the full-length synthetic gene in Escherichia coli did not result in significant heme domain production, expression of a Y647* truncated form resulted in substantial heme domain production as evidenced by the generation of "pink" cells. The histidine-tagged heme domain was purified to homogeneity using a combination of NTA-agarose and size-exclusion FPLC, resulting in a single protein band following SDS-PAGE analysis with a molecular mass of approximately 13 kDa. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry yielded an m/z ratio of 12,435 and confirmed the presence of the heme prosthetic group (m/z=622) while cofactor analysis indicated a 1:1 heme to protein stoichiometry. The oxidized heme domain exhibited spectroscopic properties typical of a b-type cytochrome with a visible Soret maximum at 413 nm together with epr g-values of 2.98, 2.26, and 1.49, consistent with low-spin bis-histidyl coordination. Oxidation-reduction titrations of the heme domain indicated a standard midpoint potential (E(o)') of -118 mV. The isolated heme domain formed a 1:1 complex with cytochrome c with a K(A) of 7 microM (micro=0.007) and reconstituted NADH:cytochrome c reductase activity in the presence of a recombinant form of the spinach nitrate reductase flavin domain, yielding a k(cat) of 1.4 s(-1) and a K(m app) for cytochrome c of 9 microM. These results indicate the efficient expression of a recombinant form of the heme domain of spinach nitrate reductase that retained the spectroscopic and thermodynamic properties characteristic of the corresponding domain in the native spinach enzyme.

Tobacco plants that lack expression of functional nitrate reductase in roots show changes in growth rates and metabolite accumulation.

When tobacco is provided with a high nitrate supply, only a small amount of the nitrate taken up by the roots is immediately assimilated inside the roots, while the majority is transported to the leaves where it is reduced to ammonium. To elucidate the importance of root nitrate assimilation, tobacco plants have been engineered that showed no detectable nitrate reductase activity in the roots. These plants expressed the nitrate reductase structural gene nia2 under control of the leaf-specific potato promoter ST-LS1 in the nitrate reductase-mutant Nia30 of Nicotiana tabacum. Homozygous T2-transformants grown in sand or hydroponics with 5.1 mM nitrate had approximately 55-70% of wild-type nitrate reductase acivity in leaves, but lacked nitrate reductase acivity in roots. These plants showed a retarded growth as compared with wild-type plants. The activation state of nitrate reductase was unchanged; however, diurnal variation of nitrate reductase acivity was not as pronounced as in wild-type plants. The transformants had higher levels of nitrate in the leaves and reduced amounts of glutamine both in leaves and roots, while roots showed higher levels of hexoses (3-fold) and sucrose (10-fold). It may be concluded that the loss of nitrate reductase acivity in the roots changes the allocation of reduced nitrogen compounds and sugars in the plant. These plants will be a useful tool for laboratories studying nitrate assimilation and its interactions with carbon metabolism.

Diurnal changes in nitrogen assimilation of tobacco roots.

To gain an insight into the diurnal changes of nitrogen assimilation in roots the in vitro activities of cytosolic and plasma membrane-bound nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.1), nitrite reductase (EC 1.7.7.1) and cytosolic and plastidic glutamine synthetase (EC 6.3.1.2) were studied. Simultaneously, changes in the contents of total protein, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium were followed. Roots of intact tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun) were extracted every 3 h during a diurnal cycle. Nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase and glutamine synthetase were active throughout the day-night cycle. Two temporarily distinct peaks of nitrate reductase were detected: during the day a peak of soluble nitrate reductase in the cytosol, in the dark phase a peak of plasma membrane-bound nitrate reductase in the apoplast. The total activities of nitrate reduction were similar by day and night. High activities of nitrite reductase prevented the accumulation of toxic amounts of nitrite throughout the entire diurnal cycle. The resulting ammonium was assimilated by cytosolic glutamine synthetase whose two activity peaks, one in the light period and one in the dark, closely followed those of nitrate reductase. The contribution of plastidic glutamine synthetase was negligible. These results strongly indicate that nitrate assimilation in roots takes place at similar rates day and night and is thus differently regulated from that in leaves.

Maximal expression of membrane-bound nitrate reductase in Paracoccus is induced by nitrate via a third FNR-like regulator named NarR.

Respiratory reduction of nitrate to nitrite is the first key step in the denitrification process that leads to nitrate loss from soils. In Paracoccus pantotrophus, the enzyme system that catalyzes this reaction is encoded by the narKGHJI gene cluster. Expression of this cluster is maximal under anaerobic conditions in the presence of nitrate. Upstream from narK is narR, a gene encoding a member of the FNR family of transcriptional activators. narR is transcribed divergently from the other nar genes. Mutational analysis reveals that NarR is required for maximal expression of the membrane-bound nitrate reductase genes and narK but has no other regulatory function related to denitrification. NarR is shown to require nitrate and/or nitrite is order to activate gene expression. The N-terminal region of the protein lacks the cysteine residues that are required for formation of an oxygen-sensitive iron-sulfur cluster in some other members of the FNR family. Also, NarR lacks a crucial residue involved in interactions of this family of regulators with the sigma(70) subunit of RNA polymerase, indicating that a different mechanism is used to promote transcription. narR is also found in Paracoccus denitrificans, indicating that this species contains at least three FNR homologues.

Transcription of a nitrate reductase gene isolated from the symbiotic basidiomycete fungus Hebeloma cylindrosporum does not require induction by nitrate.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi contribute to the nitrogen nutrition of their host plants, but no information is available on the molecular control of their nitrogen metabolism. The cloning and pattern of transcriptional regulation of two nitrite reductase genes of the symbiotic basidiomycete Hebeloma cylindrosporum are presented. The genomic copy of one of these genes (nar1) was entirely sequenced; the coding region is interrupted by 12 introns. The nar1 gene, which is transcribed and codes for a putative 908-amino acid polypeptide complemented nitrate reductase-deficient mutants of H. cylindrosporum upon transformation, thus demonstrating that the gene is functional. The second gene (nar2), for which no mRNA transcripts were detected, is considered to be an ancestral, non-functional duplication of nar1. In a 462-nt partial sequence of nar2 two introns were identified at positions identical to those of introns 8 and 9 of nar1, although their respective nucleotide sequences were highly divergent; the exon sequences were much more conserved. In wild-type strains, transcription of nar1 is repressed in the presence of a high concentration of ammonium. High levels of transcription are observed in the presence of either very low nitrogen concentrations or high concentrations of nitrate or organic N sources such as urea, glycine or serine. This indicates that in H. cylindrosporum, in contrast to all nitrophilous organisms studied so far, an exogenous supply of nitrate is not required to induce transcription of a nitrate reductase gene. In contrast, repression by ammonium suggests the existence of a wide-domain regulatory gene, as already characterized in ascomycete species.

Biosynthesis and secretion of several enzymes in Escherichia coli dnaK and dnaJ mutants.

Escherichia coli null dnaJ and dnaKdnaJ mutants were defective in the biosynthesis and secretion of several enzymes. The synthesis of beta-galactosidase induced in delta dnaJ and delta dnaKdnaJ mutants was abolished at 42 degrees C and significantly decreased at 30 and 37 degrees C. The activity of alkaline phosphatase in the periplasm in both mutant strains at high temperature was lower than in the wild-type strain. The synthesis of b-type cytochromes was defective in two deletion mutants while the synthesis of nitrate reductase-A at 42 degrees C was influenced by dnaK mutation only. The lack of DnaK and DnaJ does not impair the activity of catechol 2,3-dioxygenase irrespective of growth temperature.

Expression of the Escherichia coli NRZ nitrate reductase is highly growth phase dependent and is controlled by RpoS, the alternative vegetative sigma factor.

In the absence of oxygen, many bacteria preferentially use nitrate as a terminal electron acceptor for anaerobic respiration. In Escherichia coli, there are two membrane-bound, differentially regulated nitrate reductases. While the physiological basis for this metabolic redundancy is not completely understood, during exponential growth, synthesis of NRA is greatly induced by anaerobiosis plus nitrate, whereas NRZ is expressed at a low level that is not influenced by anaerobiosis or nitrate. In the course of identifying genes controlled by the stationary phase regulatory factor RpoS (sigmas), we found that the expression of NRZ is induced during entry into stationary phase and highly dependent on this alternative sigma factor. Expression studies, using operon fusions and nitrate reductase assays, revealed that the NRZ operon is controlled mainly at the level of transcription and is induced 10-fold at the onset of stationary phase in rich media. Consistent with previous reports of RpoS expression, the RpoS dependency of NRZ in minimal media was very high (several hundredfold). We also observed a fivefold stationary phase induction of NRZ in an rpoS background, indicating that other regulatory factors, besides RpoS, are probably involved in transcriptional control of NRZ. The RpoS dependence of NRZ expression was confirmed by Northern analyses using RNA extracted from wild-type and rpoS- strains sampled in exponential and stationary phase. In toto, these data indicate that RpoS-mediated regulation of NRZ may be an important physiological adaptation that allows the cell to use nitrate under stress-associated conditions.

Effect of nitrate and incubation conditions on the production of catalase and nitrate reductase by staphylococci.

The objective of this work was to study the production of catalase and nitrate reductase by staphylococci in order to understand their role in lipid oxidation during sausage manufacturing. Catalase and nitrate reductase were measured in resting cells and supernatants of staphylococci grown in different conditions. All staphylococci (except S. warneri) synthetized nitrate reductase. In static condition, the synthesis was maximal during exponential growth phase, whereas in shaking condition, the synthesis was maximal at the beginning of stationary phase. The production of nitrate reductase was increased in presence of nitrate, this effect was particularly important for the two S. carnosus strains which exhibited the highest activity. For all staphylococci, the production of catalase was maximal at the end of the exponential growth phase. The lowest amount of catalase was produced by S. warneri and the highest by S. carnosus. Only S. xylosus 873 and S. saprophyticus 852 released high amounts of catalase in the supernatant growth. Staphylococci produced higher amounts of catalase in shaking conditions. Addition of nitrate in the growth media favoured the synthesis of catalase, with a pronounced effect for S. carnosus. Nitrate also favoured the release of catalase.