GSE176473
RNA-Seq provides new insights into the nitrogen response of Azoarcus olearius BH72 during N2-fixation beyond the nitrogen fixation process
Azoarcus olearius BH72 is a diazotrophic endophyte carrying out biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and supplying nitrogen to its host plant. Our previous microarray approach provided insights in the transcriptome of strain BH72 under N2-fixation in comparison to ammonium-grown conditions, which already indicated induction of genes not related to the BNF process. Due to the known limitations of the technique, we might have missed additional differentially regulated genes (DEGs). Thus we used directional RNA-Seq to better comprehend the transcriptional landscape under these growth conditions. RNA-Seq detected almost 24 % of the annotated genes to be regulated, twice the amount identified by microarray. In addition to confirming entire regulated operons containing known DEGs, the new approach detected induction of genes involved in carbon metabolism and flagellar and twitching motility. On the other hand, genes encoding for proteins involved in translation and vitamin biosynthesis were detected to be suppressed. Nonetheless, strain BH72 appears not to be content with N2-fixation but is primed for alternative economic N-sources, such as nitrate, urea or amino acids: we detected strong induction of machineries for uptake and assimilation. Overall design: Directional RNA-Seq analysis to compare the transcriptome of diazotrophic Azoarcus olearius BH72 grown microaerobically under N2-fixing and non-fixing conditions (with ammonium chloride as nitrogen source). Cells and RNA were obtained from three independent experiments for each condition.