ABSTRACT
In 85-Mda plasmid (p85) of plant-associated bacteria Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 model strain, the genes encoding copper-containing nitrite reductase (nirK); heterodimeric NO-reductase (norCB); NorQ and NorD proteins affecting synthesis and (or) activation of NirK and (or) NO-reductase (norQD); catalytic subunit I ofcytochrom c oxidase (CccoN); presumable NO sensor carrying two hemeerythrine domains (orf181); and an enzyme required for synthesis of presumable NO antagonist, homocystein (metC) were identified. In the same region of p85, orf293 encoding transcriptional regulator of LysR type, orf208 whose protein product carries a formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase subunit E domain, and an orf164-encoding conservative secretory protein with unknown function were also found. Localization of a set of denitrification genes in the plasmid DNA A. brasilense Sp245 adjacent to IS elements ISAzba1 and ISAzba2 indicates potential mobility of these genes and high probability of their horizontal transfer among populations of rhizospheric bacteria. A site homologous to p85 nirK-orf208-orf181 genes was detected in the 115 kb plasmid of A. brasilense Sp7 type strain.
