The products of the Rhizobium leguminosarum hyp gene cluster are necessary for synthesis of a functional uptake [NiFe] hydrogenase system in symbiosis with pea plants, and at least for HypB and HypF, a role in hydrogenase-specific nickel metabolism has been postulated (L. Rey, J. Murillo, Y. Hernando, E. Hidalgo, E. Cabrera, J. Imperial, and T. Ruiz-Argiieso, Mol. Microbiol. 8:471-481, 1993). The R. leguminosarum hypB gene product has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified by immobilized nickel chelate affinity chromatography in a single step. The purified recombinant HypB protein was able to bind 3.9 + 0.1 Ni2+ ions per HypB monomer in solution. Co2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ ions competed with Ni2+ with increasing efficiency.Monospecific HypB antibodies were raised and used to show that HypB is synthesized in R. eguminosarum microaerobic vegetative cells and pea bacteroids but not in R. leguminosarum aerobic cells. HypB protein synthesized by R. kguminosarum microaerobic vegetative cells could also be isolated by immobilized nickel chelate affinity chromatography. A histidine-rich region at the amino terminus of the protein (23-HGHHHH DGHHDHDHDHDHHRGDHEHDDHHH-54) is proposed to play a role in nickel binding, both in solution and in chelated form.Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae possesses an H2 uptake system that is able to oxidize H2 generated by the nitrogenase complex as a byproduct of the N2 reduction reaction (8,40). This system consists of an uptake [NiFe] hydrogenase and accessory proteins, and it is only expressed in the plant symbiotic state. The main features of the system have been studied by our laboratory in the Pisum-pea bacteroid symbiosis. The genetic determinants for the H2 uptake system are clustered in a 15-kb DNA region (hup region) in the symbiotic plasmid (21,22). This region has been sequenced, and 17 potential genes have been identified. The first six genes constitute the hydrogenase structural operon and include the genes hupS and hupL, encoding the hydrogenase polypeptides (13), and four additional genes, hupCDEF (14). A five-gene cluster containing hupGHIJK has been identified downstream the hydrogenase structural operon (38 Purification of the HypB protein by Ni(II)-NTA-agarose chromatography. The Ni(II)-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA)-agarose matrix was obtained from Diagen (Dusseldorf, Germany), and the manufacturer's recommendations for its use (12) were followed, with minor modifications as follows.(i) Denaturing conditions. Frozen cells from a 100-ml induced culture were lysed in the presence of 6 M guanidineHCl (3.5 ml), and cell extracts were applied to an Ni(II)-NTAagarose column (2 by 0.8 cm). Proteins were stepwise eluted by means of buffers of decreasing pH, 8.0, 6.3, 5.9, and 4.5, all of which contained 8 M urea, at a flow rate of 0.5 ml min-1. Fractions (1 ml) were collected, and portions were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Coomassie blue staining (18).(ii) Nondenaturing conditions. All the manipulations were carri...