A Rhizobium meliloti symbiotic regulatory gene.

We have characterized a Rhizobium meliloti regulatory gene required for the expression of two closely linked symbiotic operons, the nitrogenase operon (nifHDK genes) and the "P2" operon. This regulatory gene maps to a 1.8 kb region located 5.5 kb upstream of the nifHDK operon. The regulatory gene is required for the accumulation of nifHDK and P2 mRNA and for the derepression of an R. meliloti nifH-lacZ fusion plasmid during symbiotic growth. The nifH and P2 promoters can be activated in free-living cultures of R. meliloti containing plasmids that produce the Escherichia coli ntrC(glnG) or the Klebsiella pneumoniae nifA regulatory gene products constitutively. The R. meliloti regulatory gene hybridizes to E. coli ntrC(glnG) and, to a lesser extent, to K. pneumoniae nifA DNA. Our results suggest that the R. meliloti regulatory gene acts as a positive transcriptional activator and that it is related to the K. pneumoniae nif regulatory genes.