Summary Kinetics of growth and nitrogenase induction in Frankia sp. Arl3 were studied in batch culture. Growth on defined medium with NH~ as the N source displayed typical batch culture kinetics; however, a short stationary phase was followed by autolysis. Removal of NH arrested growth and initiated vesicle differentiation. Vesicle numbers increased linearly and were paralleled by a rise in nitrogenase (acetylene reduction) activity. Nitrogenase activity (10nM C2Ha .mg protein -1 .rain -~) was sufficient to support growth on N~ and protein levels rose in parallel with nitrogenase induction. Optimal conditions for vesicle and nitrogenase induction were investigated. Maximum rates of acetylene reduction were obtained with 5 to 10 mM K~HPO 4/KH2PO~, 0.1 mM CaCI~ and MgSO4. The optimum pH for acetylene reduction and respiration was around 6.7. The amount (5 to 10ug protein/ml) and stage (exponential) of growth of the ammonium-grown inoculum strongly influenced the subsequent development of nitrogenase activity. Propionate was the most effective carbon source tested for nitrogenase induction. Respiration in propionate-grown cells was stimulated by CO2 and biotin, suggesting that propionate is metabolized via the propionyl CoA pathway.

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Mutants of Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 unable to grow aerobically on dinitrogen were isolated by mutagenesis with UV irradiation, followed by a period of incubation in yellow light and then by penicillin enrichment. A cosmid vector, pRL25C, containing replicons functional in Escherichia coli and in Anabaena species was constructed. DNA from wild-type Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 was partially digested with Sau3AI, and size-fractionated fragments about 40 kilobases (kb) in length were ligated into the phosphatasetreated unique BamHI site of pRL25C. A library of 1,054 cosmid clones was generated in E. coli DH1 bearing helper plasmid pDS4101. A derivative of conjugative plasmid RP-4 was transferred to this library by conjugation, and the library was replicated to lawns of mutant Anabaena strains with defects in the polysaccharide layer of the envelopes of the heterocysts. Mutant EF116 was complemented by five cosmids, three of which were subjected to detailed restriction mapping; a 2.8-kb fragment of DNA derived from one of the cosmids was found to complement EF116. Mutant EF113 was complemented by a single cosmid, which was also restriction mapped, and was shown to be complemented by a 4.8-kb fragment of DNA derived from this cosmid.

The effect of the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) on the formation of vesicles, which are thought to be the site of N2 fixation in Frankia, was studied in HFPCcI3, an effective isolate from Casuarina cunninghamiana. Unlike other actinorhizal root nodules, vesicles are not produced by the endophyte in Casuarina nodules. However, in culture under aerobic conditions, large, phase-bright vesicles are formed in HFPCcI3 within 20 h following removal of NH+4 from the culture medium and reach peak numbers within 72 to 96 h. In vivo acetylene reduction activity parallels vesicle formation. Optimum rates of acetylene reduction in short-term assays occurred at 20% O2 (0.2 atm (1 atm = 101.325 kPa] in the gas phase. O2 uptake (respiration) determined polarographically showed diffusion-limited kinetics and remained unsaturated by O2 until 300 microM O2. In contrast, respiration in NH+4-grown cells was saturated by O2 between 8 and 10 microM O2. These results indicate the presence of a diffusion barrier associated with the vesicles. Vesicle development was repressed in cells incubated in N-free media sparged with gas mixtures with PO2 between 0.001 and 0.003 atm. Nitrogenase was induced under these conditions, but acetylene reduction was extremely O2 sensitive. The kinetics of O2 uptake as a function of dissolved O2 concentration in avesicular cells were similar to those in NH+4-grown cells indicating the lack of a diffusion barrier. These results demonstrate that vesicle formation and the development of the O2 protection mechanisms of nitrogenase are regulated by ambient PO2 in HFPCcI3.

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O2 protection of nitrogenase in a cultured Frankia isolate from Alnus rubra (HFPArI3) was studied in vivo. Evidence for a passive gas diffusion barrier in the vesicles was obtained by kinetic analysis of in vivo O2 uptake and acetylene reduction rates in response to substrate concentration. O2 of NH4+-grown cells showed an apparent KmO2 of approximately 1 microM O2. In N2-fixing cultures a second Km O2 of about 215 microM O2 was observed. Thus, respiration remained unsaturated by O2 at air-saturation levels. In vivo, the apparent Km for acetylene was more than 10-fold greater than reported in vitro values. These data were interpreted as evidence for a gas diffusion barrier in the vesicles but not vegetative filaments of Frankia sp. HFPArI3.

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