ISSN:
1432-072X
Keywords:
Evolution
;
Nif genes
;
Nitrogen fixation
;
Nitrogenase
;
Nucleotide sequence
;
Phylogeny
;
Rhizobium
;
16S rRNA cataloguing
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract It was known that nitrogenase genes and proteins are well conserved even though they are present in a large variety of phylogenetically diverse nitrogen fixing bacteria. This has lead to the speculation, among others, that nitrogen fixation (nif) genes were spread by lateral gene transfer relatively late in evolution. Here we report an attempt to test this hypothesis. We had previously established the complete nucleotide sequences of the three nitrogenase genes from Bradyrhizobium japonicum, and have now analyzed their homologies (or the amino acid sequence homologies of their gene products) with corresponding genes (and proteins) from other nitrogen fixing bacteria. There was a considerable sequence conservation which certainly reflects the strict structural requirements of the nitrogenase iron-sulfur proteins for catalytic functioning. Despite this, the sequences were divergent enough to classify them into an evolutionary scheme that was conceptually not different from the phylogenetic positions, based on 16S rRNA homology, of the species or genera harboring these genes. Only the relation of nif genes of slow-growing rhizobia (to which B. japonicum belongs) and fast-growing rhizobia was unexpectedly distant. We have, therefore, performed oligonucleotide cataloguing of their 16S rRNA, and found that there was indeed only a similarity of S AB=0.53 between fast- and slowgrowing rhizobia. In conclusion, the results suggest that nif genes may have evolved to a large degree in a similar fashion as the bacteria which carry them. This interpretation would speak against the idea of a recent lateral distribution of nif genes among microorganisms.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00491901
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