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. 1994 Jul;176(13):4117–4123. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.13.4117-4123.1994

Identification of a gene encoding a thioredoxin-like product necessary for cytochrome c biosynthesis and symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Rhizobium leguminosarum.

C Vargas 1, G Wu 1, A E Davies 1, J A Downie 1
PMCID: PMC205611  PMID: 8021193

Abstract

A Tn5-induced mutant of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae could not form nitrogen-fixing nodules on pea or vetch because of a lesion in electron transport to oxygen. The mutant lacked spectroscopically detectable cytochromes c and aa3. No proteins containing c-type cytochrome could be identified in the mutant by heme staining of proteins fractionated on polyacrylamide gels, indicating that the mutant was defective in maturation of all c-type cytochromes. The Tn5 mutation was determined to be located in a gene that was called cycY. The cycY gene product is homologous to the thioredoxin-like protein HelX involved in the assembly of c-type cytochromes in Rhodobacter capsulatus and to an open reading frame from a Bradyrhizobium japonicum gene cluster containing other genes involved in cytochrome c biogenesis. Our observations are consistent with CycY functioning as a thioredoxin that reduces cysteine residues in apocytochromes c before heme attachment.

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Selected References

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