Nitric oxide reductase cytochrome P-450 gene, CYP 55, of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum containing a potential binding-site for FNR, the transcription factor involved in the regulation of anaerobic growth of Escherichia coli.

A unique cytochrome P-450 (P-450) is involved in fungal denitrification, acting as a nitric oxide reductase. The phylogenetic classification of the P-450 (P-450nor) into the group of bacterial P-450s along with its involvement in the anaerobic process are of evolutional interest. The corresponding gene, CYP 55, of the fungus Fusarium oxysporum was isolated and sequenced. The P-450nor gene contained 7 introns that consisted of 49 to 55 bp. The presence of the introns suggested that horizontal transfer of the gene from bacteria to the fungus, if it has occurred, was an early event in evolution. Besides a TATA box, several inverted repeats were found in the 5'-upstream flanking region. One inverted repeat exhibited the same sequence as the binding site of FNR (fumarate and nitrate reduction), a DNA-binding, O2 (dioxygen)-sensor protein that positively regulates expressions of many hypoxic genes in Escherichia coli and other bacteria. The result suggested that the expression of P450nor is regulated in response to oxygen tension by an FNR-like system. Northern blot analyses showed that both nitrate and nitrite are the actual inducers of P-450nor and that its expression is predominantly regulated at the transcriptional level. These results raise the interesting possibility that the expression of the fungal denitrification system is regulated, as in the case of bacterial nitrate respiration, by a set of mechanisms, i.e., a combination of an FNR-like system and a system responding to nitrate/nitrite.