Regulation of nap Gene Expression and Periplasmic Nitrate Reductase Activity in the Phototrophic Bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides DSM158

Bacterial periplasmic nitrate reductases (Nap) can play different physiological roles and are expressed under different conditions depending on the organism. Rhodobacter sphaeroides DSM158 has a Nap system, encoded by the napKEFDABC gene cluster, but nitrite formed is not further reduced because this strain lacks nitrite reductase. Nap activity increases in the presence of nitrate and oxygen but is unaffected by ammonium. Reverse transcription-PCR and Northern blots demonstrated that the napKEFDABC genes constitute an operon transcribed as a single 5.5-kb product. Northern blots and nap-lacZ fusions revealed that nap expression is threefold higher under aerobic conditions but is regulated by neither nitrate nor ammonium, although it is weakly induced by nitrite. On the other hand, nitrate but not nitrite causes a rapid enzyme activation, explaining the higher Nap activity found in nitrate-grown cells. Translational nap′-′lacZ fusions reveal that the napK and napD genes are not efficiently translated, probably due to mRNA secondary structures occluding the translation initiation sites of these genes. Neither butyrate nor caproate increases nap expression, although cells growing phototrophically on these reduced substrates show a very high Nap activity in vivo (nitrite accumulation is sevenfold higher than in medium with malate). Phototrophic growth on butyrate or caproate medium is severely reduced in the NapA(−) mutants. Taken together, these results indicate that nitrate reduction in R. sphaeroides is mainly regulated at the level of enzyme activity by both nitrate and electron supply and confirm that the Nap system is involved in redox balancing using nitrate as an ancillary oxidant to dissipate excess reductant.