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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1999, p. 4935-4942, Vol. 65, No. 11
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Culture-Independent Characterization of a Gene Responsible for Nitrogen Fixation in the Symbiotic Microbial Community in the Gut of the Termite Neotermes koshunensis

Satoko Noda,1,2 Moriya Ohkuma,1,3,* Ron Usami,2 Koki Horikoshi,2 and Toshiaki Kudo1,2

The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN)1 and Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST),3 Wako, Saitama 351-0198, and Department of Applied Chemistry, Toyo University, Kawagoe, Saitama 350-8585,2 Japan

Received 12 July 1999/Accepted 27 August 1999

Expression of the nitrogen fixation gene, nifH, in the gut of the termite Neotermes koshunensis was characterized without cultivation. nifH cDNA was directly amplified from mRNA of the mixed microbial population in the gut by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Analyses of the RT-PCR products revealed that, among the diverse nifH sequences, only a few corresponding to an alternative nitrogenase (encoded by the anf gene) were preferentially transcribed in the termite gut. Expression of the anf gene was further investigated quantitatively under several termite feeding conditions by competitive PCR. The levels of expression of the anf gene were largely congruent with the nitrogen fixation activity displayed by the termite. The amounts of the genomic anf gene in the population showed no significant change, indicating that the level of expression was critical for nitrogen fixation activity. Interestingly, no significant decrease in the expression level was observed when the diet contained molybdenum (Mo), which represses ordinary anf genes. A 3.6-kb DNA region downstream of the anf gene was isolated and found to contain reading frames homologous to anfH, anfD, and anfG of the Bacteria domain which encode subunits of an alternative nitrogenase having no Mo as a cofactor. This DNA region also contained reading frames encoding glnB-like proteins, which is a common feature of the nitrogenase genes of the Archaea domain. These results indicate that the anf group of nitrogenase genes is the most important group of genes responsible for nitrogen fixation in N. koshunensis and that the anf gene possesses novel features with respect to the regulation of its expression and its gene organization.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Microbiology Laboratory, RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), Hirosawa 2-1, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. Phone: 81-48-462-1111, ext. 5724. Fax: 81-48-462-4672. E-mail: mohkuma{at}mailman.riken.go.jp.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1999, p. 4935-4942, Vol. 65, No. 11
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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