Nucleotide sequence of a 24,206-base-pair DNA fragment carrying the entire nitrogen fixation gene cluster of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract

The complete nucleotide sequence (24,206 base-pairs) of the Klebsiella pneumoniae gene region for nitrogen fixation (nif) is presented. Coding regions corresponding to the 19 known nif genes (including nifW and nifZ) could be identified. An additional open reading frame of 216 base-pairs, called nifT, was detected between nifK and nifY. Search for transcriptional signal structures revealed some unusual features: (1) several possible NifA-binding motifs are present in the intergenic regions between nifJ and nifH as well as between nifX and nifU; (2) a perfect NifA-binding motif, preceding the nifENX promoter, is located within an inverted repeat structure; (3) structures resembling the consensus nif promoter are found within the coding regions of nifW and nifZ and, together with a NifA-binding motif, in nifN. Typical rho-independent termination structures were detected only downstream from the nifHDKTY and the nifBQ operons. Analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences revealed the presence of two Cys-X2-Cys-X2-Cys-X3-Cys-Pro clusters in the pyruvate-flavodoxin oxidoreductase NifJ. This arrangement of cysteine residues is normally present only in ferredoxins. A high degree of homology between the two gene products (NifE and NifN) involved in iron-molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis and the two nitrogenase component I structural proteins (NifD and NifK) was found. All four proteins are characterized by the conserved motif His-Gly-X2-Gly-Cys, which may play a role in binding the iron-molybdenum cofactor.