title: Glutamate synthase genes of the diazotroph Azospirillum brasilense. Cloning, sequencing, and analysis of functional domains.
abstract: A 10-kilobase EcoRI fragment of Azospirillum brasilense genomic DNA was cloned in Escherichia coli. Two open reading frames of 4548 and 1446 base pairs (bp) were identified within the fragment as the structural genes for the alpha and beta subunits (gltB and gltD, respectively) of A. brasilense GltS. The organization of the gltBD region of A. brasilense differs from that of the corresponding region in E. coli: in A. brasilense, gltD is upstream relative to gltB, and its stop codon is separated by 141 bp from the first ATG of gltB. The deduced amino acid sequences reveal a high similarity with GltS from E. coli and with the ferredoxin-dependent GltS from maize. Binding domains for flavin cofactors and NADPH, a domain for glutamine binding and activation, and cysteine clusters for iron-sulfur centers formation were tentatively identified on the basis of sequence comparison with flavoproteins, pyridine nucleotide-dependent enzymes, amidotransferases, and iron-sulfur proteins.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisiologia e Biochimica Generali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pelanda
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vanoni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perego
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Piubelli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galizzi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Curti
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zanetti
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015806:Azospirillum brasilense / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005970:Glutamate Synthase / Q000235:genetics*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D009876:Operon; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D005970:Glutamate Synthase