1887

Abstract

A reproducible, simple method for assessing nitrogenase activity by the acetylene reduction test on agar plates is described. The effects of phosphate, succinate and arabinose on nitrogenase activity and slime production by strain 61--101, growing on a solid medium with leucine or glutamine as sole source of fixed nitrogen, were investigated. Slime production varied with different media but there was no simple correlation between slime production and high nitrogenase activity. Arabinose greatly enhanced nitrogenase activity of bacteria growing on glutamine as sole nitrogen source, especially if the amino acid concentration was 1 m or less. Without arabinose, the optimum concentration of glutamine for nitrogenase activity was 2 to 2·5 m, but 1 m-glutamine plus 50 m-arabinose gave twice the activity [8 to 10 nmol ethylene produced h (mg protein)].

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-108-1-151
1978-09-01
2024-12-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/108/1/mic-108-1-151.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-108-1-151&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bergersen F. J. 1977; Nitrogenase in chemostat cultures of rhizobia. In Recent Development in Nitrogen Fixation309–320 Newton W., Postgate J. R., Rodriguez Barrueco C. New York: Academic Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bishop P. E., Evans H. J., Daniel R. M., Hampton R. O. 1975; Immunological evidence for the capability of free-living Rhizobium japonicum to synthesize a portion of a nitrogenase component. Biochimica et biophysica acta 381:248–256
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Child J. J. 1975; Nitrogen fixation by a Rhizobium sp. in association with non-leguminous plant cell cultures. Nature, London 253:350–351
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Child J. J., LaRue T. A. 1974; A simple technique for the establishment of nitrogenase in soybean callus culture. Plant Physiology 53:88–90
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Dalton H., Postgate J. R. 1969; Effect of oxygen on growth of Azotobacter chroococcum in batch and continuous culture. Journal of General Microbiology 54:463–473
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Dudman W. F. 1964; Growth and extracellular polysaccharide production by Rhizobium meliloti in defined medium. Journal of Bacteriology 88:640–645
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Gibson A. H., Scowcroft W. R., Child J. J., Pagan J. D. 1976; Nitrogenase activity in cultured Rhizobium sp. strain 32h1. Archives of Microbiology 108:45–54
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Holsten R. D., Burns R. C, Hardy R. W. F., Herbert R. R. 1971; Establishment of symbiosis between Rhizobium and plant cells in vitro . Nature, London 232:173–176
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Keister D. L. 1975; Acetylene reduction by pure cultures of rhizobia. Journal of Bacteriology 123:1265–1268
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Kurz W. G. W., LaRue T. A. 1975; Nitrogenase activity in rhizobia in the absence of plant host. Nature, London 256:407–409
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Lowry O. H., Rosebrough N. J., Farr A. L., Randall R. J. 1951; Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. Journal of Biological Chemistry 193:265–275
    [Google Scholar]
  12. McComb J. A., Elliot J., Dilworth M. J. 1975; Acetylene reduction by Rhizobium in pure culture. Nature, London 256:409–410
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Pagan J. D., Child J. J., Scowcroft W. R., Gibson A. H. 1975; Nitrogen fixation by Rhizobium cultured on a defined medium. Nature, London 256:406–407
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Philips D. A. 1974; Factors affecting the reduction of acetylene by Rhizobium-soybean cell associations in vitro . Plant Physiology 53:67–72
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Postgate J. R. 1971; Fixation by free-living microbes: physiology. In Chemistry and Biochemistry of Nitrogen Fixation161–190 Postgate J. R. London: Plenum Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Scowcroft W. R., Gibson A. H. 1975; Nitrogen fixation by Rhizobium associated with tobacco and cowpea cultures. Nature, London 253:351–352
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Tjepkema J. D., Evans H. J. 1975; Nitrogen fixation by free living Rhizobium in defined medium. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 65:625–628
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Werner D. 1976; Nitrogenase activity in the in vitro symbiosis of Rhizobium japonicum and tissue cultures of Glycine max and in Rhizobium in pure cultures on defined media. Berichte der Deutschen botanischen Gesellschaft 89:563–574
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Werner D., Wilcockson J., Zimmermann E. 1975; Adsorption and selection of rhizobia with ion-exchange papers. Archives of Microbiology 105:27–32
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Wilcockson J. 1977; The apparent influence of atmospheric oxygen concentration on nitrogenase activity and slime production in Klebsiella pneumoniae grown on a solid medium. Journal of General Microbiology 101:311–317
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Wilcockson J., Werner D. 1976; Nitrogenase activity by Klebsiella and Rhizobium on solid substrata exposed to air. Berichte der Deutschen botanischen Gesellschaft 89:587–607
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Zumft W. G., Mortenson L. E. 1975; The nitrogenase complex of bacteria. Biochimica et biophysica acta 416:1–52
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-108-1-151
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-108-1-151
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error