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Transcriptional analysis of nitrogen fixation in Paenibacillus durus during growth in nitrogen‐enriched medium
Author(s) -
Halim M.A.,
Choo Q.C.,
Ghazali A.H.A.,
Wajidi M.F.F.,
Najimudin N.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1111/lam.13455
Subject(s) - diazotroph , nitrogen fixation , nitrogenase , biology , nitrogen , paenibacillus , ammonium , microbiology and biotechnology , nitrate , sigma factor , gene , bacteria , promoter , biochemistry , botany , genetics , chemistry , gene expression , ecology , 16s ribosomal rna , organic chemistry
Paenibacillus durus strain ATCC 35681 T is a Gram‐positive diazotroph that displayed capability of fixing nitrogen even in the presence of nitrate or ammonium. However, the nitrogen fixation activity was detected only at day 1 of growth when cultured in liquid nitrogen‐enriched medium. The transcripts of all the nifH homologues were present throughout the 9‐day study. When grown in nitrogen‐depleted medium, nitrogenase activities occurred from day 1 until day 6 and the nifH transcripts were also present during the course of the study albeit at different levels. In both studies, the absence of nitrogen fixation activity regardless of the presence of the nifH transcripts raised the possibility of a post‐transcriptional or post‐translational regulation of the system. A putative SigA box sequence was found upstream of the transcription start site of nifB1, the first gene in the major nitrogen fixation cluster. The upstream region of nifB2 showed a promoter recognizable by SigE, a sigma factor normally involved in sporulation.