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Global transcriptional analysis of Methanosarcina mazei strain Gö1 under different nitrogen availabilities

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Abstract

Certain archaeal species can fix molecular nitrogen under nitrogen limiting conditions although little is known about this process at either the genetic or molecular level. To address this on a genome-wide scale, transcriptional analysis was performed on the model methanogen Methanosarcina mazei strain Gö1 using DNA-microarrays. The genomic expression patterns for cells grown under nitrogen fixing conditions versus nitrogen sufficiency (10 mM ammonium) revealed that approximately 5% of all genes are differentially expressed. Besides a small set of genes previously known to be up-regulated under nitrogen limitation, 14 additional genes involved in nitrogen metabolism were identified plus 10 genes encoding potential transcriptional regulators, 13 genes involved in carbon metabolism, 3 genes in general stress response, 8 putative transporter genes, and an additional 21 genes with unknown function. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR experiments confirmed the differential expression of a subset of these genes. Promoter analysis revealed a palindromic DNA motif centered nearby the transcriptional start point for several genes up-regulated under nitrogen limitation. A bioinformatics study demonstrated the presence of this motif in the up-stream region of 52 genes genome-wide, the majority of which showed nitrogen dependent differential transcription. We therefore hypothesize that this DNA element is involved in nitrogen control in M. mazei where it may act as a binding site for a regulatory protein.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Gerhard Gottschalk for continuous support and helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHM1052/6-1 and 6-2) to R. Schmitz and (DE488/7-2) to U. Deppenmeier and by a U.S. Department of Energy grant DE-FG03-86ER13498 to R. P. Gunsalus. C. Ehlers was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship from the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Allgemeine Mikrobiologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Katharina Veit, Claudia Ehlers & Ruth A. Schmitz

  2. Institut für Mikrobiologie und Genetik, Universität Göttingen, Grisebachstr. 8, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Katharina Veit & Armin Ehrenreich

  3. Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1489, USA

    Kirsty Salmon & Robert P. Gunsalus

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA

    Raymond Hovey & Uwe Deppenmeier

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  1. Katharina Veit
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  2. Claudia Ehlers
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Correspondence to Ruth A. Schmitz.

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Veit, K., Ehlers, C., Ehrenreich, A. et al. Global transcriptional analysis of Methanosarcina mazei strain Gö1 under different nitrogen availabilities. Mol Genet Genomics 276, 41–55 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-006-0117-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-006-0117-9

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