Glutamine auxotrophic (Gln-) and L-methionine D,L-sulfoximine (MSX) resistant (MSXr) mutants of N. muscorum were isolated and characterized for nitrogen nutrition, nitrogenase activity, glutamine synthetase (GS) activity and glutamine amide, alpha-keto-glutarate amido transferase (GOGAT) activity. The glutamine auxotroph was found to the GOGAT-containing GS-defective, incapable of growth with N2 or NH4+ but capable of growth with glutamine as nitrogen source, thus, suggesting GS to be the primary enzyme of both ammonia assimilation and glutamine formation in the cyanobacterium. The results of transformation and reversion studies suggests that glutamine auxotrophy is the result of a mutation in the gln A gene and that gln A gene can be transferred from one strain to another by transformation.