Evidence for the evolutionary relatedness of the proteins of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system

Nucleotide sequences of the Escherichia coli nagE and nagB genes: the structural genes for the N-acetylglucosamine transport protein of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system and for glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase

The genes coding for the enzymes of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) uptake and metabolism (nagA, nagB, and nagE) are located next to glutaminyl-tRNA synthetase gene (glnS) in the Escherichia coli genome. We determined the nucleotide sequence of the nagE (ptsN) gene, encoding the GlcNAc-specific enzyme II (NagE) of the phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system, and the sequence of the putative nagB gene, for glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase. S1 mapping identified the mRNA transcript for nagE, indicating that nagE might be a sole constituent of the nagE operon, and divergent transcripts which are probably of the nagB, nagA genes. An evaluation of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties of NagE shows characteristics of a membrane protein. Also, NagE shows homologies to lactose permease and to the glucose-specific transport protein (enzyme IIGlc), and the glucose-specific phosphoryl carrier protein (enzyme IIIGlc). The latter two homologies are particularly interesting since no enzyme III-like protein for GlcNAc transport has been reported and enzyme IINag is of similar size as the combined enzymes IIGlc plus IIIGlc. This supports the idea that these two transport and phosphorylation systems may have evolved from a common ancestral gene.

The phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system in gram-positive bacteria: properties, mechanism, and regulation

This review consists of three major sections. The first and largest section reviews the protein constituents and known properties of the phosphotransferase systems present in well-studied Gram-positive bacteria. These bacteria include species of the following genera: (1) Staphylococcus, (2) Streptococcus, (3) Bacillus, (4) Lactobacillus, (5) Clostridium, (6) Arthrobacter, and (7) Brochothrix. The properties of the different systems are compared. The second major section deals with the regulation of carbohydrate uptake. There are four parts: (1) inhibition by intracellular sugar phosphates in Staphylococcus aureus, (2) PTS-mediated regulation of glycerol uptake in Bacillus subtilis, (3) competition for phospho-HPr in Streptococcus mutans, and (4) the possible involvement of protein kinases in the regulation of sugar uptake via the phosphotransferase system. The third section deals with the phenomenon of inducer expulsion. The first part is concerned with the physiological characterization of the phenomenon; then the consequences of unregulated uptake and expulsion, a futile cycle of energy expenditure, are considered. Finally, the biochemistry of the protein kinase and the protein phosphate phosphatase system, which appears to regulate sugar transport via the phosphotransferase system, is defined. The review, therefore, concentrates on the phosphotransferase system, its functions in carbohydrate transport and phosphorylation, the mechanisms of its regulation, and the mechanism by which it participates in the regulation of other physiological processes in the bacterial cell.

Physical and genetic characterization of the glucitol operon in Escherichia coli

The glucitol (gut) operon has been identified in the colony bank of Clark and Carbon (A. Sancar and W. D. Rupp, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76:3144-3148, 1979). We subcloned the gut operon by using paCYC184, pACYC177, and pBR322. The operon, which is encoded in a 3.3-kilobase nucleotide fragment, consists of the gutC, gutA, gutB, and gutD genes. The repressor of the gut operon seemed to be encoded in the region downstream from the operon. The gene products of the gut operon were identified by using maxicells. The apparent molecular weights of the glucitol-specific enzyme II (product of the gutA gene), enzyme III (product of the gutB gene), and glucitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (product of the gutD gene) were about 46,000, 13,500, and 27,000, respectively, as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Sequence homologies between proteins of bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent sugar phosphotransferase systems: identification of possible phosphate-carrying histidine residues

The DNA sequences for some of the genes involved in the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium have been reported. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of enzyme IIBgi, enzyme IIMtl, and enzyme IIGlc/enzyme IIIGlc, which catalyze the uptake and concomitant phosphorylation of beta-glucosides, mannitol, and glucose, respectively, reveals considerable sequence homology. In particular, the carboxyl-terminal region of enzyme IIBgl is so homologous to the whole of enzyme IIIGlc as to suggest a common function. We postulate that His-547 of enzyme IIBgl receives a phosphate group directly from the cytoplasmic protein HPr and transfers this phosphate to His-306 located in the amino-terminal half of enzyme IIBgl. This latter histidine is conserved in enzyme IIBgl and enzyme IIGlc and, in both proteins, occurs in a region that shows homology with the His-15 region of HPr, which is known to act as the phosphate carrier. An equivalent histidine residue, His-195, is also present in enzyme IIMtl, although here the flanking sequence is different. None of these specified histidine residues is likely to be buried within the membrane.

Evidence for regulation of gluconeogenesis by the fructose phosphotransferase system in Salmonella typhimurium

A genetic locus designated fruR, previously mapped to min 3 on the Salmonella typhimurium chromosome, gave rise to constitutive expression of the fructose (fru) regulon and pleiotropically prevented growth on all Krebs cycle intermediates. Regulatory effects of fruR were independent of cyclic AMP and its receptor protein and did not prevent uptake of Krebs cycle intermediates. Instead, the phosphotransferase system appeared to regulate gluconeogenesis by controlling the activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and phosphoenolpyruvate synthase.

Enzyme I of the phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system has two sites of phosphorylation per dimer

Enzyme I of the phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system of Escherichia coli has been reported to contain one phosphorylation site per dimer and thus operates by either a half of the sites or a flip-flop mechanism [Misset, O., & Robillard, G. T. (1982) Biochemistry 21, 3136-3142; Hoving, T., ten Hoeve-Duurkens, R., & Robillard, G. T. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 4335-4340]. In this paper, the determination of two phosphorylation sites per dimer of enzyme I was made by using a number of different methods. In some experiments, less than two sites per dimer were found, but a concomitant loss in enzyme I activity was also found. The phosphorylated residue in enzyme I was shown to have the properties expected for a N3-phosphohistidinyl residue.

The bacterial phosphotransferase system: kinetic characterization of the glucose, mannitol, glucitol, and N-acetylglucosamine systems

The kinetic mechanisms by which the glucose, glucitol, N-acetylglucosamine, and mannitol enzymes II catalyze sugar phosphorylation have been investigated in vitro. Lineweaver-Burk analyses indicate that the glucose and glucitol enzymes II catalyze sugar phosphorylation by a sequential mechanism when the two substrates are phospho-enzyme III and sugar. The N-acetylglucosamine and mannitol enzymes II, which do not function with an enzyme III, catalyze sugar phosphorylation by a ping-pong mechanism when the two substrates are phospho-HPr and sugar. These results, as well as previously published kinetic characterizations, suggest a common kinetic mechanism for all enzymes II of the system. It is suggested that all enzymes II and enzyme II-III pairs arose from a single (fused) gene product containing two sites of phosphorylation and that phosphoryl transfer from the second phosphorylation site to sugar can only occur when the enzyme II-III pair is present in the associated state.