Rearrangement of nitrogen fixation genes during heterocyst differentiation in the cyanobacterium Anabaena.
Nitrogen fixation by the cyanobacterium Anabaena is carried out in heterocysts, specialized, non-dividing cells which differentiate under conditions of ammonia or nitrate deprivation. In Anabaena, heterocyst differentiation is accompanied by rearrangement of some nitrogen fixation genes. A site-specific recombination between an 11 base-pair direct repeat sequence flanking the nifK and nifD genes removes 11 kilobases of intervening DNA, resulting in juxtaposition of the two genes and an alteration of the nifD protein-coding sequence.
D002454:Cell Differentiation; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005111:Extrachromosomal Inheritance; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005796:Genes; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation; D009591:Nitrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D014178:Translocation, Genetic
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D009591:Nitrogenase