Rhodobacter capsulatus E1F1 grows phototrophically with nitrate as nitrogen source. Using primers designed for conserved motifs in bacterial assimilatory nitrate reductases, a 450-bp DNA was amplified by PCR and used for the screening of a genomic library. A cosmid carrying an insert with four SalI fragments of 2.8, 4.1, 4.5, and 5.8 kb was isolated, and DNA sequencing revealed that it contains a nitrate assimilation (nas) gene region, including the hcp gene coding for a hybrid cluster protein (HCP). Expression of hcp is probably regulated by a nitrite-sensitive repressor encoded by the adjacent nsrR gene. A His(6)-HCP was overproduced in Escherichia coli and purified. HCP contained about 6 iron and 4 labile sulfide atoms per molecule, in agreement with the presence of both [2Fe-2S] and [4Fe-2S-2O] clusters, and showed hydroxylamine reductase activity, forming ammonia in vitro with methyl viologen as reductant. The apparent K(m) values for NH(2)OH and methyl viologen were 1 mM and 7 microM, respectively, at the pH and temperature optima (9.3 and 40 degrees C). The activity was oxygen-sensitive and was inhibited by sulfide and iron reagents. R. capsulatus E1F1 grew phototrophically, but not heterotrophically, with 1 mM NH(2)OH as nitrogen source, and up to 10 mM NH(2)OH was taken up by anaerobic resting cells. Ammonium was transiently accumulated in the media, and its assimilation was prevented by L-methionine-D,L-sulfoximine, a glutamine synthetase inhibitor. In addition, hydroxylamine- or nitrite-grown cells showed the higher hydroxylamine reductase activities. However, R. capsulatus B10S, a strain lacking the whole hcp-nas region, did not grow with 1 mM NH(2)OH. Also, E. coli cells overproducing HCP tolerate hydroxyl-amine better during anaerobic growth. These results suggest that HCP is involved in assimilation of NH(2)OH, a toxic product that could be formed during nitrate assimilation, probably in the nitrite reduction step.