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PMID: 6987649 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article

Interspecies homology of nitrogenase genes.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 77 ·No. 1 ·1980-01-00 ·Pages 191-5

Ruvkun GB, Ausubel FM

Abstract

Cloned nitrogen fixation (nif) genes from Klebsiella pneumoniae hybridize to DNA from 19 out of 19 widely divergent nitrogen-fixing bacterial strains but do not hybridize to DNA from 10 different non-nitrogen-fixing species. K. pneumoniae nif DNA fragments that hybridize to DNA from other species contain part of the three structural genes that code for nitrogenase polypeptides. We have utilized this homology to clone an EcoRI restriction endonuclease fragment from Rhizobium meliloti that hybridizes to the K. pneumoniae nif structural genes. Some of the species whose DNA hybridizes with K. pneumoniae nif DNA have been postulated to have diverged from K. pneumoniae 3 x 10(9) years ago. Nitrogenase genes are the only known example of such highly conserved prokaryotic translated genes. Nitrogenase genes are either extraordinarily conserved in evolution or have been exchanged between different nitrogen-fixing species relatively recently in evolutionary time.

MeSH Terms
Bacteria/genetics DNA, Bacterial/genetics DNA, Recombinant Genes Klebsiella pneumoniae/enzymology,genetics Nitrogenase/genetics Nucleic Acid Hybridization Rhizobium/genetics Species Specificity
Chemicals
DNA, Bacterial DNA, Recombinant Nitrogenase
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Ruvkun G B
Ausubel F M
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31 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.77.1.191
Published
1980-01-00
Pages
191-5
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC348234
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.77.1.191 PMC Full Text View journal details
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