Electron donation to the flavoprotein NifL, a redox-sensing transcriptional regulator

Transcriptional control of the nitrogen fixation (nif) genes in response to oxygen in Azotobacter vinelandii is mediated by nitrogen fixation regulatory protein L (NifL), a regulatory flavoprotein that modulates the activity of the transcriptional activator nitrogen fixation regulatory protein A (NifA). CD spectra of purified NifL indicate that FAD is bound to NifL in an asymmetric environment and the protein is predominantly alpha-helical. The redox potential of NifL is -226 mV at pH 8 as determined by the enzymic reduction of NifL by xanthine oxidase/xanthine in the presence of appropriate mediators. The reduction of NifL by xanthine oxidase prevented NifL from acting as an inhibitor of NifA. In the absence of electron mediators NifL could also be reduced by Escherichia coli flavohaemoprotein (Hmp) with NADH as reductant. Hmp contains a globin-like domain with haem B as prosthetic group and an FAD-containing oxidoreductase module. The carboxyferrohaem form of Hmp was competent to reduce NifL, suggesting that electron donation to NifL originates from the flavin in Hmp rather than by direct electron transfer from the haem. Spinach ferredoxin:NAD(P) oxidoreductase, which adopts a folding similar to the FAD- and NAD-binding domains of Hmp, also reduced NifL with NADH as reductant. Re-oxidation of NifL occurs rapidly in the presence of air, raising the possibility that NifL might sense intracellular oxygen. We propose a physiological redox cycle in which the oxidation of NifL by oxygen and hence the activation of its inhibitory properties occurs rapidly, in contrast with the switch from the active to the reduced form of NifL, which occurs more slowly.