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. 1983 May;45(5):1592–1601. doi: 10.1128/aem.45.5.1592-1601.1983

Physiology of Ex Planta Nitrogenase Activity in Rhizobium japonicum†

Arun K Agarwal 1,‡, Donald L Keister 1
PMCID: PMC242506  PMID: 16346295

Abstract

Thirty-nine wild-type strains of Rhizobium japonicum have been studied for their ability to synthesize nitrogenase ex planta in defined liquid media under microaerobic conditions. Twenty-one produced more than trace amounts of acetylene reduction activity, but only a few of these yielded high activity. The oxygen response curves were similar for most of the nitrogenase-positive strains. The strains derepressible for activity had several phenotypic characteristics different from non-derepressible strains. These included slower growth and lower oxygen consumption under microaerobic conditions and lower extracellular polysaccharide production. Extracellular polysaccharide production during growth on gluconate in every nitrogenase-positive strain assayed was lower under both aerobic and microaerobic conditions than the non-derepressible strains. These phenotypic characteristics may be representative of a genotype of a subspecies of R. japonicum. These studies were done in part to enlarge the base number of strains available for studies on the physiology, biochemistry, and genetics of nitrogen fixation.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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