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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2003, p . 3658-3662, Vol . 69, No . 6
Phylogeny and Characterization of Three nifH-Homologous Genes from Paenibacillus azotofixans
Quok-Cheong Choo, Mohd-Razip Samian, and Nazalan Najimudin*
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Received 19 November 2002/
Accepted 21 March 2003
In this paper, we report the cloning and characterization of three Paenibacillus azotofixans DNA regions containing genes involved in nitrogen fixation . Sequencing analysis revealed the presence of nifB1H1D1K1 gene organization in the 4,607-bp SacI DNA fragment . This is the first report of linkage of a nifB open reading frame upstream of the structural nif genes . The second (nifB2H2) and third (nifH3) nif homologues are confined within the 6,350-bp HindIII and 2,840-bp EcoRI DNA fragments, respectively . Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that NifH1 and NifH2 form a monophyletic group among cyanobacterial NifH proteins . NifH3, on the other hand, clusters among NifH proteins of the highly divergent methanogenic archaea .
Nitrogen fixation-related genes have been highly conserved throughout evolution even though they are widely distributed among eubacteria and archaea (4, 7, 11, 13, 15) . In terms of their physical and biochemical properties, the mechanisms of the nitrogen fixation process are very similar among these organisms . The conventional dinitrogenase is composed of an
2ß2 tetramer; the
and ß subunits are encoded by the nifD and nifK genes, respectively . Also included in the nitrogenase complex is nitrogenase reductase, which is encoded by the nifH gene . In most diazotrophs, the nifHDK genes are contiguous . Sequence and mutational analyses of nitrogen fixation-related genes of various diazotrophs indicate that the arrangement of nif and associated genes differs considerably among these organisms . Examples of organisms with a noncontiguous arrangement of structural nif genes are Frankia sp . strain FaC1, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, and Rhizobium sp . strain Irc78 (2, 14) .
Paenibacillus azotofixans ATCC 35681 is a gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic diazotroph that falls into a broad cluster of nitrogen fixers in rRNA group 3; this cluster also includes P . macerans and P . polymyxa (3) . Diazotrophic strains of P . azotofixans were shown to possess the ability to fix atmospheric dinitrogen with high efficiency (8, 25, 29) . In contrast to the majority of diazotrophs, their ability to fix nitrogen is not affected by the presence of nitrate (29) .
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PCR amplification of the nifH gene fragment.
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The objective of identifying DNA fragments containing nif homologues was achieved by using the 380-bp nifH gene as a homologous probe . Alignment of NifH polypeptide sequences from representative diazotrophs was performed using ClustalX software (9) . Based on these sequence alignments, nifH-degenerate oligonucleotides (5'-TAY GGN AAR GGN GGN ATN GGN AA-3' and 5'-GCR AAN CCN CCR CAN ACN ACR TC-3') were designed as primers .
Chromosomal DNA (40 ng/ml) was PCR amplified in a 50-µl reaction volume containing 1x PCR buffer (Promega), a 1 mM concentration of each primer, a 0.2 mM concentration of each deoxynucleoside triphosphate, 1.5 mM MgCl2, and 2.0 U of Weiss Taq DNA polymerase (Promega) . The following PCR parameters were used: 94°C for 5 min; 30 thermal cycles of 94°C for 30s, 45°C for 30s, and 72°C for 30s; and a final extension step at 72°C for 10 min .
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Screening of genomic library and Southern blot analysis.
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A genomic library of individual lambda clones from primary recombinants was screened according to standard procedures (28), using the PCR-amplified nifH probe . Following secondary and tertiary screenings, positively hybridized plaques were isolated and their DNA was extracted . The purified DNA was subjected to restriction enzyme digestions (EcoRI, HindIII, and SacI) . Southern analysis using the nifH probe revealed the presence of three distinctly different DNA digestion profiles (data not shown), suggesting the existence of three different nif gene-containing DNA regions, which were subsequently gel purified and ligated . Hybridization analysis using the digoxigenin-labeled nifH PCR probe was also performed with genomic DNA digested with the EcoRI and HindIII restriction enzymes (data not shown) . The results obtained suggested the presence of more than one copy of the nifH gene in P . azotofixans, in agreement with previous studies by Oliveira et al . (21) and Rosado et al . (26) .
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Sequence analysis of nifH1, nifH2, nifH3, and other nif genes.
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The 4,607-bp SacI fragment contained a 320-amino-acid partial nifB1 coding region, the complete nifH1 and nifD1 open reading frames (ORFs), and the first 387 amino acids of nifK1 (Fig . 1a) . These alleles were designated nifB1, nifH1, nifD1, and nifK1, respectively . This is the first report of linkage of a nifB ORF upstream of the conventional structural nif genes . Analysis of the region immediately upstream of the nifH1D1K1 ORFs revealed the presence of potential ribosome binding sites (RBSs; GAAGG, GAGG, and GAGG, respectively) (30) located between 8 and 11 bp from the ATG initiation codon of each ORF . The suggested nifH1 RBS overlaps with the 3' end of the nifB1 coding region . Examination of the 143-bp nifH1-nifD1 intergenic region revealed the presence of an 11-bp inverted-repeat structure that might have a regulatory function during nifD1K1 transcription . Similar inverted repeats have been described for other diazotrophs (4, 11, 16) . Comparison of its amino acid sequences with sequences in the database revealed that this nifD1 ORF has the highest degree of homology with members of the gram-positive, high-G+C-content genus Frankia (69% identity with Frankia alni strain ArI3 and 68% identity with Frankia sp . strain EUIK1) . A 4-nucleotide overlap occurs between the 3' end of nifD1 and the 5' end of nifK1, an indication of a possible translational coupling phenomenon (22) . The sequence of nifK1 was partial from the putative ATG, coding for 387 amino acids, with a putative RBS located 10 bp upstream (within the 3' end of nifD1) .
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FIG . 1 . Organization of nif genes in a 4.607-kb SacI fragment from pCQC102 containing the entire nifH1 and nifD1 genes and partial nifB1 and nifK1 genes (a), a 6.350-kb HindIII fragment from pCQC100 containing nifH2 and nifB2 (b), and a 2.840-kb EcoRI fragment from pCQC101 containing nifH3 (c). Restriction enzyme cutting sites are indicated as follows: A, HpaI; H, HindIII; H2, HincII; E1, EcoRI; E2, EcoRV; P, PstI; S1, SacI; and S2, SacII.
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A second nifB-nifH cluster (designated nifB2H2) was found in a 6,350-bp HindIII fragment (Fig . 1b) . As with NifH1, the protein coding region of NifH2 is 879 nucleotides in length and encodes a predicted 292-amino-acid polypeptide . Interestingly, as in nifH1, the putative RBS (30) for nifH2 is located within the 5' end of its corresponding nifB2 gene . The nifB2 ORF terminates with a single stop codon, TAA, which is followed by the initiation codon for nifH2 6 bp downstream . Unlike nifB1H1, this nif cluster does not have the nifDK genes within the 3.5-kb region downstream of the nifH2 termination codon . Instead, two potential ORFs that appear to lack any known nif-related function are found . The closest homologies were with various transporter substrate-binding proteins .
The third nifH homologue (nifH3) was found within the 2,840-bp EcoRI fragment (Fig . 1c) . No adjacent nifB or nifDK coding regions were found within close proximity . A putative ORF (truncated) that displayed homology to transporter ATP-binding proteins was found approximately 80 bp upstream of the nifH3 start codon .
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Amino acid alignment of NifH proteins.
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Figure 2 shows an alignment of the deduced amino acid sequences of the P . azotofixans NifH proteins . They are more divergent in their C termini . Stretches of 10 or more conserved amino acids were observed for residues 10 to 21, 97 to 109, and 129 to 141 . When the amino acid residues of NifH1 and NifH2 were compared, seven were found to differ; this constitutes 97% identity . Comparing either NifH1 or NifH2 with NifH3 yielded a comparatively low 43% identity . A high (97%) identity was also observed when the partial reading frames of nifB genes were translated to their respective amino acids . At the nucleotide level, alignment of the two nifBH gene clusters also revealed a high degree of identity (94%), with no significant changes until 57 bases downstream of the presumptive termination codon of the nifH ORF (data not shown) . These data led us to postulate that nifBH gene clusters of P . azotofixans had undergone a gene duplication process, resulting in the nifB1H1 and nifB2H2 gene organizations .
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FIG . 2 . ClustalX (9) alignment of deduced amino acids sequences of the three NifH proteins of P . azotofixans . Amino acids are designated with one-letter abbreviations . Gaps (indicated by hyphens) were introduced for maximal matching . The conserved amino acids are indicated by stars below the alignment; periods and colons denote similar amino acids and acceptable substitutions, respectively, at the indicated amino acid positions . NifH2 amino acid residues which differ from those in the corresponding positions of NifH1 are in bold and underlined.
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The nifH phylogenetic tree had been well established (20, 26, 32, 35, 36) and is largely consistent with the 16S rRNA gene phylogeny (34) . Our data (Fig . 3) are in agreement with the division of the NifH topology into four major clusters, as described by Chien and Zinder (5, 6) . When the complete nifH coding sequences were used, the clustering of P . azotofixans NifH1 and NifH2 yielded several interesting observations . Earlier nifH-based phylogenetic analyses of P . azotofixans involved partial sequences of nifH fragments derived by PCR amplification (1, 26, 36) . Discrepancies between our study and those of other investigators (1, 26, 36) in the placement of P . azotofixans NifH proteins were probably due to their use of short-length nifH fragments, which reduced the resolving power of the analyses . When phylogeny was based on partial nifH gene sequences, determined by Zehr et al . (36), P . azotofixans NifH did not cluster with NifH proteins of any group of bacteria . Further observations and the branching order of the NifH phylogeny seemed to suggest that P . azotofixans NifH lies within the cyanobacterial clade (1, 36) .
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FIG . 3 . Tree showing phylogeny of NifH polypeptide sequences, constructed by the neighbor-joining method (27) . Graphic representation of the tree was made using NJPlot software (23) . The database accession numbers are indicated after the abbreviations . Cluster I to IV assignments are described elsewhere (5, 6) . The data was analyzed with 100 bootstrap values . The values presented above the nodes are the bootstrap values generated . Bootstrap values below 50% are not shown . The scale bar represents 0.02 substitution per site . Abbreviations: Abr, Azospirillum brasilense; Afa, Alcaligenes faecalis; Asp, Nostoc sp . strain PCC7120; Avi, Azotobacter vinelandii; Bsp, Bradyrhizobium sp . strain ANU289; Bja, Bradyrhizobium japonicum; Cpa, Clostridium pasteurianum; Csp, Cyanothece sp . strain ATCC 51142; Fal-ArI3, Frankia alni strain ArI3; Fsp-EUIK1, Frankia sp . strain EUIK1; Fsp-FaC1, Frankia sp . strain FaC1; Fsp, Fischerella sp . strain UTEX1931; Gdi, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus; Hse, Herbaspirillum seropedicae; Kpn, Klebsiella pneumoniae; Mba, Methanosarcina barkeri; Mma, Methanococcus maripaludis; Mth(H), Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus ( H); Mmar, Methanothermobacter marburgensis strain Marburg; Mth, Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus; Paz, Paenibacillus azotofixans; Pbo, Plectonema boryanum; Ret, Rhizobium etli; Rle, Rhizobium leguminosarum; Rsp, Rhizobium sp . strain NGR234; Sme, Sinorhizobium meliloti; Tfe, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans; Tsp, Trichodesmium sp . strain IMS101.
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Use of the complete DNA sequences of the three nifH genes in a reanalysis of NifH phylogeny demonstrated clustering of P . azotofixans NifH1 and NifH2 within the Cyanobacteriaceae grouping (Fig . 3) . The NifH protein from a filamentous, nonheterocystous marine cyanobacterium, Trichodesmium sp . strain IMS101, showed the highest degrees of identity with P . azotofixans NifH1 (80%) and NifH2 (79%), respectively . Interestingly, neither NifH1 nor NifH2 clustered with the NifH proteins of other gram-positive diazotrophs, such as Frankia spp . (a high-G+C firmicute) and Clostridium pasteurianum (a low-G+C firmicute) .
The third putative nifH gene product of P . azotofixans (NifH3) clustered with NifH proteins of members of the Archaea domain, Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus and Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus . Again, this putative NifH did not cluster with those of the other phyletically related gram-positive microorganisms, such as Frankia spp . or C . pasteurianum . This is the first report of a gram-positive diazotroph having a NifH protein that clusters with Nif proteins of confirmed methanogenic diazotrophs . Based on the NifH phylogenetic analysis (Fig . 3), P . azotofixans NifH3 also did not fall within the anf nitrogenase clade . Rosado et al . (26) reported a nifH phylogenetic tree in which the proteins of three Paenibacillus strains, P . azotofixans P3E20 and RBN4 and P . durum DSMZ1735, formed a cluster with the alternative (anf) nitrogenases . It is not known at this point whether the putative anf nitrogenase reported by Rosado et al . (26) exists in this P . azotofixans type strain as well . It has not yet been determined whether this nifH3 gene product is a functional nitrogenase . It has been postulated that genes from this cluster are related to genes involved in bacteriochlorophyll synthesis and probably have a function unrelated to nitrogen fixation (5, 12) .
The question of horizontal transfer of the nifH gene has been debated among evolutionists for the last 3 decades (10, 17, 18) . The strongest evidence yet for horizontal nifH gene transfer came from the pioneering phylogeny studies of nifH genes (17, 18) . Verification of a horizontal-transfer event is difficult, especially with the limited genetic data from Paenibacillus strains . Nevertheless, our data on NifH phylogeny revealed some unanticipated features that brought us to postulate that the gene transfer phenomenon exists . The most striking evidence for the occurrence of a gene transfer event was the unusual placement of NifH3 among the highly divergent members of the Archaea . Smith et al . (31) described a phylogenetic congruency test based on the assumption that a NifH tree corresponds to conventional NifH phylogenies (20, 26, 32, 35, 36); if there was any odd placement, a horizontal-gene-transfer event may have occurred . Furthermore, the low level of identity (43%) between P . azotofixans NifH3 and the other two NifH proteins likely indicates that there are two different groupings of orthologous gene products . The vast differences in the sequences among NifH3 proteins compared to NifH1 and NifH2 seemed to suggest that a duplication event was unlikely; otherwise, like the five C . pasteurianum NifH proteins (33), all three P . azotofixans NifH proteins would be grouped in the same cluster .
It is not presently known whether all three nif homologue clusters are located in the genome or on plasmids (if any even exist), as in some diazotrophic systems (19, 24) . It will also be of interest to determine whether the phylogenies of complete nifH genes of other Paenibacillus strains conform to the conventional nifH phylogenetic topology .
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Nucleotide sequence accession numbers.
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The sequencing data obtained in this study have been deposited in the EMBL database under the following accession numbers: AJ299453, AJ299454, and AJ515294 .
This work was supported by research grants from the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE); a Universiti Sains Malaysia short-term grant; and the Malaysian Toray Science Foundation (MTSF) .
* Corresponding author . Mailing address: School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia . Phone: 60-4-8603181 . Fax: 60-4-6565125 . E-mail: nazalan{at}usm.my .
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