Nitrogenase activity, amino acid pool patterns and amination in blue-green algae

Abstract

The free amino acid pools in the nitrogen-fixing blue-green algae Anabaena cylindrica, A. flos-aquae and Westiellopsis prolifica contain a variety of amino acids with aspartic acid, glutamic acid and the amide glutamine being present in much higher concentrations than the others. This pattern is characteristic of that found in organisms having glutamine synthetage/glutamate synthetase [glutamine amide-2-oxoglutarate amino transferase (oxido-reductase)] as an important pathway of ammonia incorporation. Under nitrogen-starved conditions the level of acetylene reduction (nitrogen fixation) and the glutamine pool both increase but the free ammonia pool decreases, suggesting that ammonia rather than glutamine regulates nitrogen fixation. Glutamine synthetase has been demonstrated in Anabaena cylindrica using the γ-glutamyl transferase assay and also using a biosynthetic assay in which P_i release from ATP during glutamine synthesis was measured. The enzyme (γ-glutamyl transferase assay) is present in nitrogen-fixing cultures and activity is higher in aerobic than in microaerophilic cultures. Ammonium-grown cultures have lowest levels of all and activity in the presence of nitrate-nitrogen (150 mg nitrogen 1^-1) is lower than in aerobic cultures growing on elemental nitrogen. Ammonium-nitrogen and nitrate-nitrogen have no effect on glutamine synthetase in vitro. Glutamate synthetase also operates in nitrogen-fixing cultures of Anabaena cylindrica.