Transcription of a Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli gene needed for melanin synthesis is activated by nifA of Rhizobium and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

The Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli symbiotic plasmid pRP2JI carries a gene, melA, specifying the enzyme tyrosinase, which is responsible for the production of the pigment melanin in these bacteria. Transcription of melA is activated by the nifA gene of Rhizobium and, when the cloned melA gene is transferred to Escherichia coli, melA is expressed if the recipients contain nifA gene of Klebsiella pneumoniae. This nifA-dependent activation was temperature sensitive and required the ntrA gene. The cloned nifA gene of K. pneumoniae, when transferred to a nifA mutant of Rhizobium phaseoli biovar phaseoli, corrected the Mel- but not the Fix- phenotype. nifA of R. leguminosarum biovar phaseoli activated melA at higher levels in cells grown in low concentrations of oxygen. Also, nifA of R. leguminosarum biovar phaseoli activated nifH of K. pneumoniae in Escherichia coli cells grown in low-oxygen concentrations.