Complementation of a pleiotropic Nif-Gln regulatory mutant of Rhodospirillum rubrum by a previously unrecognized Azotobacter vinelandii regulatory locus.

A spontaneous pleiotropic Nif- mutation in Rhodospirillum rubrum has been partially characterized biochemically and by complementation analysis with recombinant plasmids carrying Azotobacter vinelandii DNA in the vicinity of ORF12 [Jacobson et al. (1989) J. Bacteriol 171: 1017-1027]. In addition to being unable to grow on N2 as a nitrogen source the phenotypic characterization of this and other metronidazole enriched spontaneous mutants showed (a) no nitrogenase activity, (b) the absence of NifHDK polypeptides, (c) a slower growth rate on NH4+, (d) approximately 50% higher glutamine synthetase (GS) activity than the wild-type, which was repressible, (e) an inability to switch-off GS activity in response to an NH4+ up-shift, and (f) an inability to modify (32P-label) the GS polypeptide. The apparent relationship between the absence of nifHDK expression and the absence of GS adenylylation cannot be explained in terms of the current model for nif gene regulation. However, R. rubrum transconjugants receiving A. vinelandii DNA which originated immediately upstream from nifH, restored all aspects of the wild-type phenotype. These data suggest a here-to-fore unrecognized relationship between nif expression and GS switch-off (adenylylation) activity, and the existence of a previously unidentified regulatory locus in Azotobacter that complements this mutation.