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Evidence for an ammonium transport system in free-living and symbiotic cyanobacteria

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Abstract

The free-living cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis showed a biphasic pattern of 14CH3NH +3 uptake. Initial accumulation (up to 60 s) was independent of CH3NH +3 metabolism, but long-term uptake was dependent on its metabolism via glutamine synthetase (GS). The CH3NH +3 was converted into methylglutamine which was not further metabolised. The addition of l-methionine-dl-sulphoximine (MSX), to inhibit GS, inhibited CH3NH +3 metabolism, but did not affect the CH3NH +3 transport system.

NH +4 , when added after the addition of 14CH3NH +3 , caused the efflux of free CH3NH +3 ; when added before 14CH3NH +3 , NH +4 inhibited its uptake indicating that both NH +4 and CH3NH +3 share a common transport system. Carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone and triphenyl-methylphosphonium both inhibited CH3NH +3 accumulation indicating that the transport system was Δψ-dependent. At pH 7 and at an external CH3NH +3 concentration of 30 μmol dm-3, A. variabilis showed a 40-fold intracellular accumulation of CH3NH +3 (internal concentration 1.4 mmol dm-3). Packets of the symbiotic cyanobacterium Anabaena azollae, directly isolated from the water fern Azolla caroliniana, also showed a Δψ-dependent NH +4 transport system suggesting that the reduced inhibitory effect of NH +4 on nitrogenase cannot be attributed to the absence of an NH +4 transport system but is probably related to the reduced GS activity of the cyanobiont.

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Abbreviations

CCCP:

carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone

GS:

glutamine synthetase

HEPES:

4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazine ethanesulphonic acid

MSX:

l-methionine-dl-sulphoximine

Δψ:

membrane potential

ΔpH:

transmembrane pH difference

TPMP+ :

triphenylmethylphosphonium

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Author notes

  1. Amar N. Rai

    Present address: School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, 500134, Hyderabad, A. P., India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. A. R. C. Research Group on Cyanobacteria and Department of Biological Sciences, The University, DD1 4HN, Dundee, UK

    Amar N. Rai, Peter Rowell & William D. P. Stewart

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  1. Amar N. Rai
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  2. Peter Rowell
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  3. William D. P. Stewart
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Rai, A.N., Rowell, P. & Stewart, W.D.P. Evidence for an ammonium transport system in free-living and symbiotic cyanobacteria. Arch. Microbiol. 137, 241–246 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414551

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414551

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