Regulation of two nickel-requiring (inducible and constitutive) hydrogenases and their coupling to nitrogenase in Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b.

Two uptake hydrogenases were found in the obligate methanotroph Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b; one was constitutive, and a second was induced by H2. Both hydrogenases could be assayed by measuring methylene blue reduction anaerobically or by coupling their activity to nitrogenase acetylene reduction activity in vivo in an O2-dependent reaction. The H2 concentration for half-maximal activity of the inducible and constitutive hydrogenases in both assays was 0.01 and 0.5 bar (1 and 50 kPa), respectively, making it easy to distinguish these enzymes from one another both in vivo and in vitro. Hydrogen uptake was shown to be coupled to ATP synthesis in methane-starved cells. Methane, methanol, formate, succinate, and glucose all repressed the H2-mediated synthesis of the inducible hydrogenase. Furthermore, this enzyme was only expressed in N-starved cultures and was repressed by NH4+ and NO3-; synthesis of the constitutive hydrogenase was not affected by excess N in the growth medium. In nickel-free, EDTA-containing medium, the activities of these two enzymes were negligible; however, both enzyme activities appeared rapidly following the addition of nickel to the culture. Chloramphenicol, when added along with nickel, had no effect on the rapid appearance of either the constitutive or inducible activity, indicating that nickel is not required for synthesis of the hydrogenase apoproteins. These observations all suggest that these hydrogenases are nickel-containing enzymes. Finally, both hydrogenases were soluble and could be fractionated by 20% ammonium sulfate; the constitutive enzyme remained in the supernatant solution, while the inducible enzyme was precipitated under these conditions.