Summary
Azotobacter chroococcum Fos 189 is a Tn1-induced mutant which, unlike the parent strain MCD1, does not fix nitrogen in air when provided with glucose or pyruvate as sole carbon sources. Fos 189 showed 5% of parental activity for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase though PEP synthetase activity was normal. The A. chroococcum phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (ppc) gene was isolated after complementation of an appropriate Escherichia coli mutant using a broad host range gene bank prepared from A. chroococcum genomic DNA. The gene was localised by transposon mutagenesis and subcloning on a minimum DNA fragment of 6.6 kb. Broad host range plasmids containing the A. chroococcum ppc gene complemented the mutation in Fos 189 thereby restoring aerotolerant nitrogen fixation.
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Romos, J., Robson, R.L. Cloning of the gene for phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase from Azotobacter chroococcum, an enzyme important in aerobic nitrogen fixation. Mol Gen Genet 208, 481–484 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328143
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328143