Open AccessThe cyclic synthesis of the nitrogenase of Synechococcus RF‐1 and its control at the transcription level
Author(s) -
Huang TanChi,
Chow TeJin,
Hwang IShiou
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1988.tb02924.x
Subject(s) - nitrogenase , nitrogen fixation , synechococcus , biology , nitrate , transcription (linguistics) , botany , cyanobacteria , chemistry , bacteria , ecology , genetics , linguistics , philosophy
In a diurnal light/dark regimen Synechococcus RF‐1 fixes N 2 at a high rate but almost exclusively during the dark periods. Studying the time course of nitrogenase synthesis by using chloramphenicol and nitrate revealed that re‐initiation of nitrogenase synthesis was required for nitrogen fixation to appear during the dark period. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that nitrogenase‐specific mRNA expressed itself only in the dark for a culture growing in a diurnal light/dark regimen The results proved that the nitrogenase of Synechococcus RF‐1 is synthesized cyclically when the organism is growing in a diurnal light/dark regimen and that this cyclic synthesis is controlled at the transcription level.