Glutamine synthetase and GlnR regulate nitrogen metabolism in WLY78.

WLY78, a N-fixing bacterium, has great potential use as a biofertilizer in agriculture. Recently, we have revealed that GlnR positively and negatively regulates the transcription of the (trogen ixation) operon () in WLY78 by binding to two loci of the promoter according to nitrogen availability. However, the regulatory mechanisms of nitrogen metabolism mediated by GlnR in the genus remain unclear. In this study, we have revealed that glutamine synthetase (GS) and GlnR in WLY78 play a key role in the regulation of nitrogen metabolism. GS (encoded by within ) and GS1 (encoded by ) belong to distinct groups: GSI-α and GSI-β. Both GS and GS1 have the enzyme activity to convert NH and glutamate into glutamine, but only GS is involved in the repression by GlnR. GlnR represses transcription of under excess nitrogen, while it activates the expression of under nitrogen limitation. GlnR simultaneously activates and represses the expression of and in response to nitrogen availability. Also, GlnR regulates the expression of and . IMPORTANCE In this study, we have revealed that GlnR uses multiple mechanisms to regulate nitrogen metabolism. GlnR activates or represses or simultaneously activates and inhibits the transcription of nitrogen metabolism genes in response to nitrogen availability. The multiple regulation mechanisms employed by GlnR are very different from GlnR which represses nitrogen metabolism under excess nitrogen. Both GS encoded by within the operon and GS1 encoded by in WLY78 are involved in ammonium assimilation, but only GS is required for regulating GlnR activity. The work not only provides significant insight into understanding the interplay of GlnR and GS in nitrogen metabolism but also provides guidance for improving nitrogen fixation efficiency by modulating nitrogen metabolism.