NasT-mediated antitermination plays an essential role in the regulation of the assimilatory nitrate reductase operon in Azotobacter vinelandii.

ABSTRACT: Azotobacter vinelandii is a well-studied model system for nitrogen fixation in bacteria. Regulation of nitrogen fixation in A. vinelandii is independent of NtrB/NtrC, a conserved nitrogen regulatory system in proteobacteria. Previous work showed that an ntrC mutation in A. vinelandii resulted in a loss of induction of assimilatory nitrate and nitrite reductases encoded by the nasAB operon. In addition to NtrC, several other proteins, including NasT, a protein containing a potential RNA-binding domain ANTAR (AmiR and NasR transcription antitermination regulators), have been implicated in nasAB regulation. In this work, we characterize the sequence upstream of nasA and identify several DNA sequence elements, including two potential NtrC binding sites and a putative intrinsic transcriptional

SUBMITTER: Wang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3426680 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature