Protein turnover occurs during differentiation of Azotobacter vinelandii 12837 to the extent of 50% during encystment and 7% during germination. The addition of rifampin at the initiation of encystment prevents encystment and inhibits turnover. In germinating cysts, protein turnover is essential owing to an apparent lack of certain amino acid biosynthetic enzymes. The capacity to synthesize sul...

The temperature characteristic of respiration of Azotobacter vinelandii possesses a constant value of 19,330 +/- 165 over the temperature range 20-30 degrees C. This value is independent of pH, oxygen tension, age of culture, and other factors within the limits studied. The optimum temperature of respiration is 34-35 degrees C., with limits at about 10 degrees and 50 degrees C.

Two Azotobacter vinelandii strains capable of growing on N2(Nif+) were isolated from two different mutant strains that lacked dinitrogenase activity (Nif-). Extracts of N2-grown cells of the two Nif+ strains lacked significant amounts of the "conventional" dinitrogenase protein subunits, as determined by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Instead, the extracts contained at least four new prot...

We sequenced the nitrogen fixation regulatory gene nfrX from Azotobacter vinelandii, mutations in which cause a Nif- phenotype, and found that it encodes a 105-kDa protein (NfrX), the N terminus of which is highly homologous to that of the uridylyltransferase-uridylyl-removing enzyme encoded by glnD in Escherichia coli. In vivo complementation experiments demonstrate that the glnD and nfrX prod...

A mixture of five saturated 5-n-alkylresorcinol homologues was isolated from vegetative cells of the nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium Azotobacter chroococcum Az12. Their structures were established by spectrometry (1H NMR, EI-MS, FAB-MS, FAB-MS/MS) and chromatography (GC, TLC) means.

The Azotobacter vinelandii NifL protein is a redox-sensing flavoprotein which inhibits the activity of the nitrogen-specific transcriptional activator NifA. The N-terminal PAS domain has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli and crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystal belongs to the rhombohedral space group R32, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 65.0, c = 157.3 A,...

Complex formation between Azotobacter vinelandii flavodoxin and horse cytochrome c has been demonstrated through cross-linking studies with dimethyl suberimidate, dimethyl adipimidate, 1-ethyl-3-(3-di-methylaminopropyl)carbodiimide, and dimethyl-3,3'-dithiobispropionimidate. Essentially quantitative cross-linking of cytochrome c and flavodoxin was observed at low ionic strengths with the carbod...