Role of RNA secondary structure and processing in stability of the nifH1 transcript in the cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis

Abstract

In the cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413, aerobic nitrogen fixation occurs in micro-oxic cells called heterocysts. Synthesis of nitrogenase in heterocysts requires expression of the large nif1 gene cluster, which is primarily under the control of the promoter for the first gene, nifB1. Strong expression of nifH1 requires the nifB1 promoter but is also controlled by RNA processing, which leads to increased nifH1 transcript stability. The processing of the primary nifH1 transcript occurs at the base of a predicted stem-loop structure that is conserved in many heterocystous cyanobacteria. Mutations that changed the predicted secondary structure or changed the sequence of the stem-loop had detrimental effects on the amount of nifH1 transcript, with mutations that altered or destabilized the structure having the strongest effect. Just upstream from the transcriptional processing site for nifH1 was the promoter for a small antisense RNA, sava4870.1. This RNA was more strongly expressed in cells grown in the presence of fixed nitrogen and was downregulated in cells 24 h after nitrogen step down. A mutant strain lacking the promoter for sava4870.1 showed delayed nitrogen fixation; however, that phenotype might have resulted from an effect of the mutation on the processing of the nifH1 transcript. The nifH1 transcript was the most abundant and most stable nif1 transcript, while nifD1 and nifK1, just downstream of nifH1, were present in much smaller amounts and were less stable. The nifD1 and nifK1 transcripts were also processed at sites just upstream of nifD1 and nifK1.