Summary
Certain mutations in the nifL gene of the Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogen fixation (nif) gene cluster resulted in altered nif regulaiton such that nitrogenase synthesis was no longer repressed by low levels of exogenous fixed nitrogen, by oxygen or by high temperature. Introduction of a plasmid with a nifL + allele restored fixed nitrogen and oxygen repression. We therefore conclude that the nifL product acts as a nif-specific repressor in response to these effectors.
Hence nif-specific regulation is controlled by the products of two regulatory genes, nifLA, which comprise a single operon. As previously reported (Dixon et al. 1980; Buchanan-Wollaston et al. 1981), the nifA product is necessary for transcription from other nif promoters but not from that of its own operon. We find that the nifL gene product also acts at other nif promoters but does not repress its own synthesis. Transcription of nifLA is in turn controlled by a general nitrogen-regulatory system in the cell, mediated by the products of the ntrA (glnF), ntrB (glnL) and ntrC (glnG) genes.
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Merrick, M., Hill, S., Hennecke, H. et al. Repressor properties of the nifL gene product in Klebsiella pneumoniae . Molec Gen Genet 185, 75–81 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333793
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333793