Interactions between the promoter regions of nitrogenase structural genes (nifHDK2) and DNA-binding proteins from N2- and ammonium-grown cells of the archaeon Methanosarcina barkeri 227.

Transcription initiation in Archaea (archaebacteria) resembles the eucaryotic process, having been shown to involve TATA box-like promoter regions as well as TATA-binding protein and TFIIB homologs. However, little is known about transcription regulation in archaea. We have previously demonstrated that transcripts of nifHDK2 genes, encoding Methanosarcina barkeri nitrogenase, are present in N2-grown cells but not in ammonium-grown cells, indicating that nif transcription is regulated by the nitrogen source. In this study, we detected proteins in M. barkeri cell extracts that bind specifically to DNA containing the putative promoter region of nifHDK2. No binding was found when the promoter region was deleted from the DNA. A competition assay showed that the methyl coenzyme M reductase (mcr) promoter region DNA and the nifH2 promoter region DNA competed for a common factor(s). There was no binding to the nifH2 promoter region by extracts of ammonium-grown cells, but there was binding by these extracts to promoter regions for mcr genes, which are presumably constitutively expressed. Interestingly, extracts of ammonium-grown cells inhibited binding to the nif promoter region by extracts of N2-grown cells. Fractionation of extracts of ammonium-grown cells with a heparin-Sepharose column resolved them into a fraction eluting at 0 M NaCl, which inhibited binding by extracts of N2-grown cells, and a fraction eluting at 0.5 to 0.75 M NaCl, which showed binding to the promoter region. These results are congruent with a model for regulation of nif gene expression in M. barkeri in which a substance present in ammonium-grown cells inhibits DNA binding by a transcription-associated protein or proteins.