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Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6661-6667, Vol. 180, No. 24
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Physiological Role for the GlnK Protein of Enteric Bacteria:
Relief of NifL Inhibition under Nitrogen-Limiting Conditions
Luhong
He,1
Eric
Soupene,1
Alexander
Ninfa,2 and
Sydney
Kustu1,*
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology,
University of California, Berkeley, California
94720-3102,1 and
Department of
Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann
Arbor, Michigan 48109-06062
Received 28 July 1998/Accepted 9 October 1998
In Klebsiella pneumoniae, NifA-dependent transcription
of nitrogen fixation (nif) genes is inhibited by
a flavoprotein, NifL, in the presence of molecular oxygen
and/or combined nitrogen. We recently demonstrated that the general
nitrogen regulator NtrC is required to relieve NifL inhibition under
nitrogen (N)-limiting conditions. We provide evidence that the sole
basis for the NtrC requirement is its role as an activator of
transcription for glnK, which encodes a
PII-like allosteric effector. Relief of NifL inhibition is
a unique physiological function for GlnK in that the structurally related GlnB protein of enteric bacteria
apparently a paralogue of
GlnK
cannot substitute. Unexpectedly, although covalent modification of GlnK by uridylylation normally occurs under N-limiting conditions, several lines of evidence indicate that uridylylation is not required for relief of NifL inhibition. When GlnK was synthesized constitutively from non-NtrC-dependent promoters, it was able to relieve NifL inhibition in the absence of uridylyltransferase, the product of the
glnD gene, and under N excess conditions. Moreover, an altered form of GlnK, GlnKY51N, which cannot be
uridylylated due to the absence of the requisite tyrosine, was still
able to relieve NifL inhibition.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: 111 Koshland
Hall, U. C. Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102. Phone: (510)
643-9308. Fax: (510) 642-4995. E-mail:
kustu{at}nature.berkeley.edu.
Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6661-6667, Vol. 180, No. 24
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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