Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the 21st Century: Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, July 20–25, 1997

709 Pages·1998·25.458 MB·English

by  J. Schell, J. Schmidt, M. John, H. Röhrig (auth.), C. Elmerich, A. Kondorosi, W. E. Newton (eds.)

BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION FOR THE 21ST CENTDRY
Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture
VOLUME31
Scientific Editor
R.J. Summerfield, The University of Reading, Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 236, Reading
RG6 2AT, Berkshire, UK
Scientijic Advisory Board
D.F. Bezdicek, Washington State University, Pullman, USA
H.V. Davies, Scottish Crops Research Institute, Dundee, Scotland, UK
J. Denecke, University ofYork, York, UK
G.O. Edmeades, CIMMYT, Mexico
J. Hamblin, The University ofWestern Australia, Nedlands, WA, Australia
H.-J. Jacobsen, Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Aims and Scope
The book series is intended for readers ranging from advanced students to senior research scientists
and corporate directors interested in acquiring in-depth, state-of-the-art knowledge about research
findings and techniques related to all aspects of agricultural biotechnology. Although the previous
volumes in the series dealt with plant science and biotechnology, the aim is now to also include
volumes dealing with animals science, food science and rnicrobiology. While the subject matter
will relate more particularly to agricultural applications, timely topics in basic science and biotech
nology will also be explored. Some volumes will report progress in rapidly advancing disciplines
through proceedings of symposia and workshops while others will detailfundamental information of
an enduring nature that will be referenced repeatedly.
Biological Nitrogen Fixation
for the 21st Century
Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on
Nitrogen Fixation,
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, July 20-25, 1997
edited by
C.ELMERICH
Departement des Biotechnologies,
Institut Pasteur,
Paris, France
A. KONDOROSI
Institut des Seiences Vegetales, CNRS,
Gif-sur-Yvette, France
and
W.E.NEWTON
Department ofB iochemistry,
Virginia Polyrechnie Institute and State University,
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A.
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-94-010-6169-8 ISBN 978-94-011-5159-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5159-7
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1998
Softcover reprint of the bardeover Ist edition 1998
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
11TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON NITROGEN
FIXATION
WAS SUPPORTED BY
Institut Pasteur
Institut National de Ia Recherche Agronornique (INRA)
L'Institut Fran9ais de Recherche Scientifique pour Je Developpement en Cooperation
(ORSTOM)
Centrede Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronornique pour le Developpement
(CIRAD et CIRAD-Foret)
Centre National de Ia Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Comrnissariat al 'Energie Atomique (CEA)
and also by
Le Ministere de I'Enseignement Superieur et de Ia Recherche
Le Programme ACCES du Ministere de l'Enseignement Superieur et de Ja Recherche
Le Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres
The European Comrnission (DG XII)
UNESCO I MIRCEN
The Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS)
La Fondarion Internationale pour Ia Science (IFS)
The United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA-ARS and USDA-NRICGP)
The National Science Foundation (USA)
La Societe Fran9aise de Microbiologie (SFM)
Liphatech Inc. (USA)
11TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON NITROGEN
FIXATION
WAS ORGANIZED BY THE FOLLOWING COMMITTEES
NATIONAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
C. Eimerich (President, Institut Pasteur, Paris), N. Amarger (INRA, Dijon), J. Batut
(INRA-CNRS, Toulouse), P. Boistard (INRA-CNRS, Toulouse), J. Denarie (INRA
CNRS, Toulouse), J.J. Drevon (INRA, Montpellier), B. Dreyfus (ORSTOM,
Montpellier), E. Duhoux (ORSTOM, Montpellier), T. Heulin (CEA, Cadarache), A.
Kaminski (Institut Pasteur, Paris), A. Kondorosi (CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette), D. Le
Rudulier (Universite-CNRS, Nice), Ph. Normand (Universite, Lyon), Y. Prin (CIRAD,
Montpellier), J. Rigaud (Universite-CNRS, Nice), N. Tandeau de Marsac (Institut
Pasteur, Paris), P. Vignais (CEA-CNRS, Grenoble), and M. de Zamaroczy (Institut
Pasteur, Paris).
INTERNATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE
C. Eimerich (France)
H. Rennecke (Switzerland)
W.E. Newton (Chair, USA)
R. Palacios (Mexico)
B.E. Smith (UK)
I.A. Tikhonovich (Russia)
C. Veeger (The Netherlands)
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ADVISORY COMMITTEE
R. Boddey (Brazil), H. Das (lndia), D. Day (Australia), F. De Bruijn (USA), R. Dixon
(UK), A. Downie (UK), E. Flores (Spain), P. Gresshoff (USA), R. Haselkorn (USA),
C. Kennedy (USA), J. Kijne (The Netherlands), G. Kiss (Hungary), E. Kondorosi
(France), D. Layzell (Canada), A. Legocki (Poland), K. Lindstrom (Finland), S. Long
(USA), P. Ludden (USA), S. Nordlund (Sweden), M. Nuti (ltaly), Y. Okon (Israel), K.
Pawlowski (Germany), F. Pedrosa (Brazil), A. Pühler (Germany), B. Rolfe (Australia),
V. Romanov (Russia), A. Shilov (Russia), W. Sylvester (New Zealand), J. Sprent (UK),
C. Vance (USA), and D. Werner (Germany).
MANAGEMENT AND SECRETARIAT
Ms. B. Ecoutin, Ms. F. Brocher, Ms. S. Bobichon, Ms. P. Chaltchirad and Ms. C.
Galliez (Centre d'Information Scientifique, Institut Pasteur) and Ms. A. Gutierrez
(UNAM, Mexico).
PREFACE
Nitrogen availability is one of the most critical factors that limits plant productivity. The
largest reservoir of nitrogen is the atmosphere, but this gaseous molecular nitrogen only
becomes available to plants through the biological nitrogen fixation process, which only
prokaryotic cells have developed. The discovery that microbes were providing fixed
nitrogen to legumes and the isolation of the first nitrogen-fixing bacteria occured at the
end the 19th Century, in Louis Pasteur's time. We are now building on more than 100
years of research in this field and looking towards the 21st Century.
The International Nitrogen Fixation Congress series Started more than 20 years ago. The
format of this Congress is designed to gather scientists from very diverse origins,
backgrounds, interests and scientific approaches and is a forum where fundamental
knowledge is discussed alongside applied research. This confluence of perspectives is,
we believe, extremely beneficial in raising new ideas, questions and concepts.
Spectacular progress has occurred since the first meeting in Pullman, W A, USA, in
1974. In particular, the three-dimensional structures of the nitrogenase enzyme and its
component proteins have been established, the mechanisms controlling expression of the
nitrogen-fixation genes are now known at the molecular level, research on the Rhizobiwn
-legume symbiosis has shown how bacteria induce the differentiation of a specialized
organ for fixing nitrogen through elucidation of the chemical nature of the signaling
molecules produced by both the plants and bacteria, and tremendous progress has been
made in both the general knowledge of the plant partner and the structure and dynamics of
the bacterial and plant genomes.
Utilisation of nitrogen-fixing associations to benefit crop productivity has been practised
for a long time, and the first industrial production of microorganisms began with the
production of Rhizobium inoculants at the end of the last century. Because the
concentration of fixed nitrogen is, in general, the limiting factor for growth, nitrogen
fixers have a selective advantage that enables them to adapt to the mostextreme conditions
and to colonise diverse ecological niches. Simple application of inocula is in common
use, but novel practices and improved management systems are also emerging, in
particular, in tropical agriculture and reforestation of devastated areas.
The refinement of molecular techniques and the development of new probes of the
phylogeny of diazotrophs has revealed an extreme biodiversity among the nitrogen fixers,
which helps explain the role that nitrogen fixation plays in maintaining life on Earth. The
most efficient ecosytems are those where the bacteria are associated with a plant in
differentiated argans to benefit crop productivity. Most short-term benefit from
fundamental research on nitrogen fixation is likely to result in the improvement of existing
nitrogen-fixing symbiotic or associative systems. Longer-term efforts are aimed at
extending the nitrogen-fixing capacity to other organisms, including transfer of the
genetic information for efficient nitrogen fixation into the plant genome and using current
knowledge of microbe-plant interactions to extend symbiosis to cereals and, in particular,
to rice. Related challenges in sustainable agriculture and forestry include the creation of
new nitrogen-fixing associations. All of these approaches were discussed at the Paris
Congress.
Vll
VIII
We are pleased to report that the 11th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation was
organized in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur, INRA, CNRS, CEA, ORSTOM and
CIRAD. Many national and international agencies and organizations have supported the
Congress either by providing direct support or by providing grants to students from
Europe and USA and to delegates from Eastern Europe and developing countries. The
Congress was held at the Institut Pasteur, in Paris, France, from July 20 to 25, 1997.
The existence of a large scientific community in France, working on different topics
related to nitrogen fixation and whose representatives constituted the National Organizing
Committee, has greatly facilitated the implementation of the Congress in Paris and the
preparation of the scientific programme. The final programme also involved extensive
consultation with the members of the International Steering Committee and the
International Programme Advisory Committee as well as with the Chairpersons of the
Plenary Sessionsand the Conveners of the Parallel Sessions. We thank them all for their
very valuable input.
The Congress brought tagether 580 delegates from 53 countries. Due to the broad scope
of the field and the extreme diversity of approaches, the Congress for the first time in this
series was organized in both Plenary and Parallel Sessions and, as usual, posters were on
display all week long. This organisation gave a !arge number of young scientists the
opportunity to present their data and it also allowed more time than usual for discussions
among specialists during the parallel sessions. The plenary sessions, which comprised
overview lectures, complemented this approach and provided all participants with the
possibility of catching up on topics in which they are less directly involved.
Altogether, this volume contains the summaries of about 130 lectures, 350 posters and
the comments of the Chairpersons and Conveners. The Keynote Lecture of the Operring
Session, given by Professor Joseph Schell, illustrated how research on nitrogen fixation
has contributed to knowledge on plant growth and a Round Table session at the end of
the Congress was devoted to delineating and highlighting the chanenges that willlikely
arise in attempts to feed the World by the year 2020.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the contributions of a few people who dedicated a
Iot of their time and energy to either the scientific or administrative organization of the
Congress; among them are Professor Emeritus Jean-Paul Aubert and Professor Rafael
Palacios, and Ms. Benedicte Ecoutin and her team from the Conference Center of the
Institut Pasteur. The editing of these Proceedings was another challenge that could not
have been undertaken, Iet alone completed in 8 days, without the help of Amparo
Gutierrez and the extraordinarily efficient expertise of Vicki Newton. Most importantly,
we should like to thank all the participants for making this Congress such an enjoyable
and interesting experience for us.
Paris, August 4, 1997
Claudine Eimerich
Adam Kondorosi
William Newton
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Keynote Leetore
Lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCO's) as growth hormones
J. Schell, J. Schmidt, M. lohn and H. Röhrig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
SECTION I. CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
Convener comments. Progress in nitrogenase-related research
W.E. Newton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Complex structures of nitrogenase
D. C. Re es, H. Schindelin, C. Kisker, J. Schlessman, J. W. Peters, L. C. Seefeldt and
J.B. Howard .................................................. 11
Chemical models for the function of nitrogenase
R.L. Richards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Mapping the catalytic surface of A. vinelandii MoFe protein by site specific
mutagenesis
K. Fisher, N.D. Hare and W.E. Newton ........................... . ... 23
Activation of iron and sulfur for nitrogenase metallocluster formation
D.R. Dean, J. Christianson, P. Yuvaniyama, L. Zheng, V. Cash, J. Agar,
M.K. Johnwn and D.H. Flint ...................................... 27
Biosynthesis of the iron-molybdenum and iron-vanadium cofactors
P. W. Ludden, V.K. Shah, G.P. Roberts, C. Rüttimann-Johnson, P. Rangaraj,
T. Foulger, R.M. Allen, M. Homer, J. Roll, X. Zhang and R. Chatterjee ......... 33
Nucleotide hydrolysis and electron transfer reactions in nitrogenase catalysis
L.C. Seefeldt, M.J. Ryle, J.M. Chan and W.N. Lanzilotta ................... 39
Structure of Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogenase
B.E. Smith, F. Yousafzai, R.R. Eady, C.A. Gormal, S. Mayer, S.M. Roe,
D.M. Lawson, S.S. Hasnain and J.G. Crossmann ...................... . .. 43
A. vinelandii Fe protein: MgATP-induced conformational change and reduction to
an all-ferrous state
H.C. Angove, E. Bursey and B.K. Burgess .................. . .......... 47
New possibilities for studying mechanism of nitrogenase reaction with photodonors
of electron
L.A. Syrtsova, S.Y. Druzhinin, E.T. Rubtsova and N.I. Shkondina .............. 49