Abstract
In the 1930s H. Bortels first established the importance of molybdenum and vanadium for nitrogen fixation, and also noted, albeit only in a footnote, that Azotobacter vinelandii could grow in the absence of both Mo and V (Bortels 1930; 1936). For 50 years these results were misinterpreted as showing that nitrogenase has an absolute requirement for Mo, when iron alone is the only transition metal needed; though the efficiency of fixation is significantly higher with V or Mo (Chisnell et al. 1988; Pau et al. 1989). The involvement of metals other than Mo in nitrogenase catalysis was only accepted as a result of P. Bishop’s discovery of the alternative nitrogenases (Bishop et al. 1980). A. vinelandii synthesizes three distinct nitrogenases, Mo-nitrogenase, V-nitrogenase, and nitrogenase-3, which is most probably an Fe-nitrogenase (Robson et al. 1986; Chisnell et al. 1988; Pau et al. 1989; Joerger et al. 1990). The paramount current interest of the alternative nitrogenases, now that the structure of Mo-nitrogenase has been determined, is that the cofactor of each nitrogenase differs by the presence or absence of a single atom, Mo, V, and presumably Fe (Kim, Rees 1992). The alternative nitrogenases also introduced a new subject of study, the mechanism metal regulation of nitrogenase, and it is now possible to describe in outline the regulatory pathways involved. Mo and V regulate expression of the three nitrogenases in a hierarchical manner at the level of transcription (Jacobson et al. 1986; Luque, Pau 1991; Jacobitz, Bishop 1992). Mo is essential for expression of Mo-nitrogenase and represses synthesis of both alternative nitrogenases. In the absence of Mo, V regulates the synthesis of alternative nitrogenases.
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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Pau, R.N. (1993). Metal Regulation of Nitrogenases and Molybdenum Transport in Azotobacter Vinelandii . In: Palacios, R., Mora, J., Newton, W.E. (eds) New Horizons in Nitrogen Fixation. Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2416-6_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2416-6_15
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