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Regulation of the hydrogenase system in Rhizobium leguminosarum

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Abstract

Some rhizobial strains induce in the legume nodule a hydrogenase capable of reducing the hydrogen generated as an obligate by-product of the nitrogenase reaction. This hydrogen recycling system has a potential to improve the energy efficiency of the rhizobium-legume symbiosis. The Hup (Hydrogen uptake) system from Rhizobium leguminosarumbv. viciae UPM791 is only expressed in the legume nodule. Its genetic determinants have been isolated and characterized, and the regulation of their expression studied at the molecular level. Hydrogenase structural genes and most of the accessory genes (hup genes) are only expressed in the legume nodule under the control of NifA, the main activator of nitrogen-fixation genes. The remaining hydrogenase accessory genes (hyp genes) are expressed in microoxic vegetative cells under the control of FnrN, an Fnr-like transcriptional activator also necessary for induction of the bacteroid specific terminal oxidase. This regulatory pattern, unique to R. leguminosarum, appears to result from an adaptive evolution towards co-regulation of the hydrogenase and nitrogenase systems.

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  1. Laboratorio de Microbiología, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

    T. Ruiz-Argüeso, J. M. Palacios & J. Imperial

  2. C.S.I.C., Ciudad Universitaria, s/n, 28040 –, Madrid, Spain

    J. Imperial

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  1. T. Ruiz-Argüeso
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Ruiz-Argüeso, T., Palacios, J.M. & Imperial, J. Regulation of the hydrogenase system in Rhizobium leguminosarum. Plant and Soil 230, 49–57 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004578324977

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