The Ntr genes of Escherichia coli activate the hut and nif operons of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract

Regulation of the synthesis of glutamine synthetase and of the arginine and glutamine transport systems (Ntr phenotype) in Salmonella have been shown to require two regulatory genes on the C-terminal side of the glnA gene (McFarland et al., 1981). We have cloned a HindIII-EcoRI DNA fragment from Escherichia coli coding for analogous properties with respect to the Ntr phenotype in E. coli. A plasmid containing this E. coli DNA fragment joined to another fragment carrying a cyanobacterial glnA gene (but no functional regulatory genes) was introduced into a Klebsiella pneumoniae mutant with a Gln^- Ntr^- phenotype i.e., which could not derepress nitrogenase. The cyanobacterial gene made the Klebsiella strain Gln⁺ and the E. coli DNA fragment made the strain Ntr⁺, including the ability to derepress nitrogenase fully. Thus the products of the glnA-linked ntr genes of E. coli can regulate expression of the Ntr-dependent genes of Klebsiella.