Identification of a NodD repressible gene adjacent to nodM in Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae.

The nodFEL and nodMNT operons in Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae are transcribed in the same orientation and induced by NodD in response to flavonoids secreted by legumes. In the narrow intergenic region between nodFEL and nodMNT, we identified a small gene divergently transcribed from nodM to the 3' end of nodL. Unlike the promoters upstream of nodF and nodM, the promoter of this gene is constitutively expressed. It appeared that its promoter might partially overlap with that of nodM and its expression was repressed by nodD. A deletion mutation was made and proteins produced by the mutant were compared with those by wild-type using 2D gel electrophoresis. Several protein differences were identified suggesting that this small gene influences the expression or stability of these proteins. However, the mutant nodulated its host plant (pea) normally.

The properties of NodD were affected by mere variation in length within its hinge region.

In Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae, NodD, a member of the LysR-type transcriptional regulators, while auto-regulating, activates transcription of other nod genes in the presence of naringenin. A hinge region of NodD was previously identified in our laboratory as a functional region independent of its N-terminal DNA-binding and C-terminal regulatory domain. Further study was carried out to see the possible effect of the length variation in the hinge region on NodD properties. To our surprise, as many as seven classes of phenotypes were observed. Class I is deficient of activating nodA transcription and abolishes auto-regulation; class II is able to activate nodA transcription independently of naringenin and abolishes auto-regulation; class III retains autoregulating but partial activating ability; class IV is able to activate transcription independently of naringenin and retains auto-regulation; in class V, nodA is transcribed constitutively but the transcription level is drastically down-regulated in the presence of naringenin; in class VI, nodA is transcribed constitutively with higher induction ratio; in class VII, nodA is transcribed constitutively with lower induction ratio. To learn more about the possible mechanism, circular permutation assays were done, which showed that the length variation of the hinge of NodD caused by mutation led to the change in bend angles of nod promoter. This finding should help to get an insight into how transcriptional regulation is mediated by NodD at the molecular level as well as to understand the regulatory system of this important family.

A small functional intramolecular region of NodD was identified by mutation.

In Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae, NodD, as a member of the LysR-type transcriptional regulators (LTTRs), exerts auto-regulation and activates transcription of other nod genes in the presence of naringenin. LTTRs were typically composed of N-terminal DNA-binding domain and C-terminal regulatory domain. In this study, by systematic insertion mutation, a region of 12 amino acids in length of NodD was identified as functional domain. Insertion mutants in this region appeared to acquire the ability of constitutively activating nodA gene and retained their auto-regulation properties. This identified region was shown to be a hinge of NodD as revealed through the model built using Swiss- PDB Viewer software. It is the first time to report that as a member of LysR family, NodD has been shown to contain a short intramolecular domain that influences its performance.

Symbiotic plasmid is required for NolR to fully repress nodulation genes in Rhizobium leguminosarum A34.

NolR is a regulator of nodulation genes present in Rhizobium and Sinorhizobium. However, the mechanism by which NolR participates in the inducible transcription of nodulation genes remains unclear. To investigate whether there are other factors regulating the function of NolR, an insertion mutant of NolR in Rhizobium leguminosarum strain 8401, which lacks the symbiotic plasmid, was constructed by homologous recombination. We investigated the effects of NolR inactivation on the expression of nodulation genes. Three inducible nodulation genes (nodA, nodF and nodM) were expressed constitutively in NolR- mutant, MR114. Our results suggested that the symbiotic plasmid is required for NolR to fully repress nodulation genes in Rhizobium leguminosarum A34. In addition, MR114 has provided a useful tool for further study of molecular interactions between NolR and other factors.

Site-specific fluorescent labeling approaches for naringenin, an essential flavonone in plant nitrogen-fixation signaling pathways.

In search of an appropriate position for the fluorescent labeling, six chemically available positions of the flavonone core of naringenin have been examined. A number of azido-containing naringenin derivatives were accordingly prepared in various site-specific fashions, and the mild Cu(I)-catalyzed Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition successfully served as the common "Click" labeling tool in the final steps. On the basis of the biological activities of the first batch of labeled compounds, further optimization at the C-6 position of naringenin finally afforded naringenin-flu (27), which acquired 20% of the potency of naringenin and presented good optical properties. Entry of naringenin-flu into living Rhizobium cells was demonstrated by in vitro fluorescent imaging experiments.

In vitro observation of the molecular interaction between NodD and its inducer naringenin as monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer.

At initial stages in the Rhizobium legume symbiosis, most nodulation genes are controlled by NodD protein and plant inducers. Some genetic studies and other reports have suggested that NodD may be activated by its direct interaction with plant inducers. However, there has been no molecular evidence of such an inducing interaction. In this paper, we used fluorescence resonance energy transfer technique to see whether such an interaction exists between NodD and its activator, naringenin, in vitro. The tetracysteine motif (Cys-Cys-Pro-Gly-Cys-Cys) was genetically inserted into NodD to label NodD with 4',5'-bis(1,3,2-dithioarsolan-2-yl) fluorescein (FlAsH). Naringenin was labeled with fluorescein by chemical linking. In the fluorescence resonance energy transfer experiments in vitro, the fluorescence intensity of one acceptor, NodD(90R6)-FlAsH, increased by 13%. This suggests that NodD may directly interact with inducer naringenin in vitro and that the reaction centre is likely near hinge region 1 of NodD.

Modulating DNA bending affects NodD-mediated transcriptional control in Rhizobium leguminosarum.

Rhizobium leguminosarum NodD binds to the nod box of the inducible nod gene nodA as a V-shaped tetramer and bends the nod box. In this work, we show that the nod gene inducer naringenin decreased gel mobility of nod box DNA-NodD complexes by sharpening the NodD-induced DNA bend, which correlated with nodA transcription activation. NodD can induce different DNA bends when the distance between the two half-sites of the nod box was modified, which severely affected NodD-mediated transcriptional control. One or two base pairs were deleted from, or inserted into, the two half-sites of the nod box of nodA. Circular permutation assays showed that such distance modulations allowed NodD to induce relaxed or sharpened DNA bending. In the case of 1 bp deletion, where the DNA bends were more relaxed than in the wild type, nodA transcription was repressed both in the absence and in the presence of inducer naringenin. In the cases of 1 and 2 bp insertion, where the DNA bends were much sharper than in wild type in the absence or presence of the inducer naringenin, nodA transcription was initiated constitutively with no requirement for the inducer naringenin or, even, the NodD regulating protein.