No abstract

Analysis of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae DNA sequence database revealed the presence of two genes, one encoding a protein predicted to be 37.5% identical (50% similar) in amino acid sequence to the Escherichia coli FNR protein and the other encoding a protein 41% and 42% identical (54 and 51% sequence similarity) to the E. coli NarL and NarP proteins respectively. Both genes have been cloned into E. coli and insertionally inactivated in vitro. The mutated genes have been transformed into gonococci and recombined into the chromosome. The fnr mutation totally abolished and the narP mutation severely diminished the ability of gonococci to: (i) grow anaerobically; (ii) adapt to oxygen‐limited growth; (iii) initiate transcription from the aniA promoter (which directs the expression of a copper‐containing nitrite reductase, AniA, in response to the presence of nitrite); and (iv) reduce nitrite during growth in oxygen‐limited media. The product of nitrite reduction was identified to be nitrous oxide. Immediately upstream of the narL/narP gene is an open reading frame that, if translated, would encode a homologue of the E. coli nitrate‐ and nitrite‐sensing proteins NarX and NarQ. As transcription from the aniA promoter was not activated during oxygen‐limited growth in the presence of nitrate, the gonococcal two‐component regulatory system is designated NarQ–NarP rather than NarX–NarL. As far as we are aware, this is the first well‐documented example of a two‐component regulatory system working in partnership with a transcription activator in pathogenic neisseria. A 45 kDa c‐type cytochrome that was synthesized during oxygen‐limited, but not during oxygen sufficient, growth was identified as a homologue of cytochrome c peroxidases (CCP) of other bacteria. The gene for this cytochrome, designated ccp, was located, and its regulatory region was cloned into the promoter probe vector pLES94. Transcription from the ccp promoter was repressed during aerobic growth and induced during oxygen‐limited growth and was totally FNR dependent, suggesting that the gonococcal FNR protein is a transcription activator of at least two genes. However, unlike AniA, synthesis of the CCP homologue was insensitive to the presence of nitrite during oxygen‐limited growth.

Degenerate primers to detect nrfA were designed by aligning six nrfA sequences including Escherichia coli K-12, Sulfurospirillum deleyianum and Wolinella succinogenes. These primers amplified a 490 bp fragment of nrfA. The ability of these primers to detect nrfA was tested with chromosomal DNA isolated from a variety of bacteria: they could distinguish between bacteria in which the gene is known to be present or absent. The positive reference organisms spanned the various classes of Proteobacteria, suggesting that these primers are probably generic. The primer pair F1 and R1 was also used successfully to analyse nrfA diversity from community DNA isolated from a sulphate reducing bioreactor, and from two established Anammox reactors (for an aerobic ammonia oxidation, in which nitrite is reduced by ammonia to dinitrogen gas). The nrfA clones isolated from these three sources grouped with the Bacteroidetes phylum. The nrfA primers also amplified 570 bp fragments from the Anammox community DNA. These fragments encoded a protein with four haem-binding motifs typical of a c-type cytochrome, but were unrelated to the NrfA nitrite reductase. A BLAST search failed to reveal similarity to any known proteins. However, similarity was found to one sequence, which was annotated as rapC (response regulator aspartate phosphatase), in the genome of the planctomycete Rhodopirellula baltica. These sequences possibly belong to a new class of c-type cytochrome that might be specific to members of the order Planctomycetales. The data are consistent with the proposal that cytochrome c nitrite reductases, present in the periplasm of Gram-negative bacteria, are widely distributed in many different environments where they provide a short circuit in the biological nitrogen cycle by reducing nitrite directly to ammonia.

The Escherichia coli NapA (periplasmic nitrate reductase) contains a [4Fe-4S] cluster and a Mo-bis-molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide cofactor. The NapA holoenzyme associates with a di-heme c-type cytochrome redox partner (NapB). These proteins have been purified and studied by spectropotentiometry, and the structure of NapA has been determined. In contrast to the well characterized heterodimeric NapAB systems of ␣-proteobacteria, such as Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Paracoccus pantotrophus, the ␥-proteobacterial E. coli NapA and NapB proteins purify independently and not as a tight heterodimeric complex. This relatively weak interaction is reflected in dissociation constants of 15 and 32 M determined for oxidized and reduced NapAB complexes, respectively. The surface electrostatic potential of E. coli NapA in the apparent NapB binding region is markedly less polar and anionic than that of the ␣-proteobacterial NapA, which may underlie the weaker binding of NapB. The molybdenum ion coordination sphere of E. coli NapA includes two molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide dithiolenes, a protein-derived cysteinyl ligand and an oxygen atom. The Mo-O bond length is 2.6 Å , which is indicative of a water ligand. The potential range over which the Mo 6؉ state is reduced to the Mo 5؉ state in either NapA (between ؉100 and ؊100 mV) or the NapAB complex (؊150 to ؊350 mV) is much lower than that reported for R. sphaeroides NapA (midpoint potential Mo 6؉/5؉ > ؉350 mV), and the form of the Mo 5؉ EPR signal is quite distinct. In E. coli NapA or NapAB, the Mo 5؉ state could not be further reduced to Mo 4؉. We then propose a catalytic cycle for E. coli NapA in which nitrate binds to the Mo 5؉ ion and where a stable des-oxo Mo 6؉ species may participate.Bacterial nitrate reductases are molybdoenzymes that catalyze the two-electron reduction of nitrate to nitrite. They can be classified into three groups according to their localization and function, namely membrane-bound respiratory, periplasmic respiratory, or cytoplasmic assimilatory enzymes (1, 2). Bacterial respiratory membrane-bound nitrate reductases, such as Escherichia coli NarGHI, are generally integral membrane protein complexes that have an active site on the cytoplasmic face of the membrane and couple quinol oxidation by nitrate to the generation of a transmembrane proton electrochemical gradient (2). The catalytic subunit, NarG, contains a Mo-bis-molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide (Mo-bis-MGD) 3 cofactor and a [4Fe-4S] cluster (3, 4). Periplasmic nitrate reductases (Nap) are also linked to quinol oxidation in respiratory electron transport chains, but do not conserve the free energy of the QH 2 -nitrate couple. Nitrate reduction via Nap can be coupled to energy conservation if the primary quinone reductase, for example NADH dehydrogenase or formate dehydrogenase, generates a proton electrochemical gradient. Thus Nap systems have a range of physiological functions that include the disposal of reducing equivalents during aerobic growth on reduced carbon substrates and anaerob...

The DNA sequence and derived amino-acid sequence of a 5618-base region in the 74-min area of the Escherichia coli chromosome has been determined in order to locate the structural gene, nirB, for the NADH-dependent nitrite reductase and a gene, cysG, required for the synthesis of the sirohaem prosthetic group. Three additional open reading frames, nirD, nirE and nirC, were found between nirB and cysG.Potential binding sites on the NirB protein for NADH and FAD, as well as conserved central core and interface domains, were deduced by comparing the derived amino-acid sequence with those of database proteins. A directly repeated sequence, which includes the motif -Cys-Xaa-Xaa-Cys-, is suggested as the binding site for either oneThe nirD gene potentially encodes a soluble, cytoplasmic protein of unknown function. No significant similarities were found between the derived amino-acid sequence of NirD and either NirB or any other protein in the database. If the nirE open reading frame is translated, it would encode a 33-amino-acid peptide of unknown function which includes 8 phenylalanyl residues.The product of the nirC gene is a highly hydrophobic protein with regions of amino-acid sequence similar to cytochrome oxidase polypeptide 1.Two genes essential for the major NADH-dependent nitrite reductase activity are located in the 74-min region of the Escherichiu coli K-12 chromosome [l]. They are nirB, the structural gene for the nitrite reductase apoprotein, and cysG, which is required for sirohaem synthesis. The prosthetic groups of nitrite reductase are FAD, an iron-sulphur cluster and sirohaem which is also found in the NADPH-dependent sulphite reductase. Mutants defective in the cysG gene are unable to grow without cysteine, or to reduce nitrite rapidly to ammonia [2,. The cysG product has recently been purified and characterized (C. Roessner, personal communication). It catalyses two methylation reactions in the conversion of uroporphyrinogen I11 into sirohaem.We have previously located the promoter, transcription and translation start points of the nirB gene and reported the DNA sequence and derived amino-acid sequence of the first 89 bases of nirB and its 5'-regulatory region [4]. We now report Correspondence to J. A. Cole,