Total glutamine synthetase activity during soybean nodule development is controlled at the level of transcription and holoprotein turnover

Gln synthetase (CS) catalyzes the ATP-dependent condensation of ammonia with glutamate to yield Gln. In higher plants GS is an octameric enzyme and the subunits are encoded by members of a small multigene family. In soybeans (Glycine max), following the onset of N-2 fixation there is a dramatic increase in GS activity in the root nodules. GS activity staining of native polyacrylamide gels containing nodule and root extracts showed a common band of activity (GSrs). The nodules also contained a slower-migrating, broad band of enzyme activity (GSns). The GSns activity band is a complex of many isozymes made up of different proportions of two kinds of GS subunits: GSr and GSn. Root nodules formed following inoculation with an Nif(-) strain of Bradyrhizobium japonicum showed the presence of GS isoenzymes (GSns1) with low enzyme activity, which migrated more slowly than GSns. Gsns1 is most likely made up predominantly of GSn subunits. Our data suggest that, whereas the class I GS genes encoding the GSr subunits are regulated by the availability of NH3, the class II GS genes coding for the GSn subunits are developmentally regulated. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that the GSns1 isozymes in the Nif(-) nodules are relatively more labile. Our overall conclusion is that GSns activity in soybean nodules is regulated by N-2 fixation both at the level of transcription and at the level of holoprotein stability.