Expression, nucleotide sequence and mutational analysis of two open reading frames in the nif gene region of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

Abstract

A 1.8 kb transcript corresponding to a region of the Anabaena 7120 chromosome 4 kb downstream of the nifHDK operon appears 12–18 h after heterocyst induction. The DNA corresponding to this transcript was sequenced and found to contain two open reading frames, designated ORF 1 and ORF 2. Two polypeptides, of 30 kDa and 13 kDa, encoded by these ORFs were expressed in Escherichia coli. An apparent start site for the transcript, detected by S1 nuclease protection, was located 42 bp upstream of the ATG start codon of ORF 1. ORF 2 shows strong sequence similarity to ORF 6 in the nif gene region of Azotobacter vinelandii. ORF 1 was interrupted using a 1.4 kb neomycin resistance cassette and the resulting mutant grew very slowly on medium lacking combined nitrogen. The mutant had 45% of wild-type acetylene reduction activity, which could be complemented by a 2.8 kb EcoRI fragment of wild-type Anabaena DNA containing only ORF 1 and ORF 2. Thus, one or both of these ORFs is required for efficient nitrogen fixation in Anabaena.