Enzymes of arginine biosynthesis and their repressive control

Biosynthesis of Arginine and Polyamines

Early investigations on arginine biosynthesis brought to light basic features of metabolic regulation. The most significant advances of the last 10 to 15 years concern the arginine repressor, its structure and mode of action in both E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium, the sequence analysis of all arg structural genes in E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium, the resulting evolutionary inferences, and the dual regulation of the carAB operon. This review provides an overall picture of the pathways, their interconnections, the regulatory circuits involved, and the resulting interferences between arginine and polyamine biosynthesis. Carbamoylphosphate is a precursor common to arginine and the pyrimidines. In both Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, it is produced by a single synthetase, carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CPSase), with glutamine as the physiological amino group donor. This situation contrasts with the existence of separate enzymes specific for arginine and pyrimidine biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis and fungi. Polyamine biosynthesis has been particularly well studied in E. coli, and the cognate genes have been identified in the Salmonella genome as well, including those involved in transport functions. The review summarizes what is known about the enzymes involved in the arginine pathway of E. coli and S. enterica serovar Typhimurium; homologous genes were identified in both organisms, except argF (encoding a supplementary OTCase), which is lacking in Salmonella. Several examples of putative enzyme recruitment (homologous enzymes performing analogous functions) are also presented.

Control of arg gene expression in Salmonella typhimurium by the arginine repressor from Escherichia coli K-12

The regulation of synthesis of arg enzymes in Salmonella typhimurium by the arginine repressor of Escherichia coli K-12 has been reevaluated using a strain of S. typhimurium in which the argR gene was rendered nonfunctional by inserting the translocatable tetracycline-resistance element Tn10 into the argR gene. In contrast to previous studies, the introduction of the argR+ allelle of E. coli on an F-prime factor to the argR::Tn10 S. typhimurium strain reduced the synthesis of arg enzymes to essentially wild-type levels. The elevated levels of arg enzymes observed in other hybrid merodiploids may have been the consequence of the formation of hybrid repressor molecules. The readily scoreable phenotype of tetracycline resistance facilitated establishing linkage of cod and argR (0.6% cotransduction) by P22 phage-mediated transduction.

EcoRI cleavage sites in the argECBH region of the Escherichia coli chromosome

The EcoRI cleavage of deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs) from lambdadarg phages, carrying argECBH, has been examined. The phages are derived from the heat-inducible, lysis-defective strain lambda y199, and their bacterial DNA, including argECBH, is derived from Escherichia coli K-12. Such cleavage of the phage DNAs, in each case, produces the D, E, and F segments of lambda. Additionally, these DNAs yield segments, ordered from left to right, of length (in kilobases [kb]) determined by electron microscopy and 0.7% agarose slab gel electrophoresis as follows: lambdadarg13 (ppc argECBH bfe), 13.9, 2.8, 1.5, and 5.6; lambdadarg14 (ppc argECBH), 3.0, 2.0, 17.3, and 6.2; and lambdadarg23 (argECBH), 18.4 and 6.2. For lambdadarg13 sup102 DNA, the segment analogous to the 13.9-kb segment measures 12.2 kb. The direction from left to right corresponds to the clockwise orientation of the E. coli genetic map. The EcoRI segments define five cleavage sites near the arg region of the E. coli chromosome. For each of the DNAs, the arg genes occur on the largest segment produced. The 17.3-kb segment, being entirely bacterial, represents the argECBH-bearing EcoRI segment of the E. coli chromosome. The location of the arg genes was demonstrated electron microscopically in heteroduplex experiments.

Location of the argR gene on the chromosome of Salmonella typhimurium

The regulatory gene (argR) for the arginine biosynthetic pathway has been located at 106 min on the chromosome of S. typhimurium. In addition, the location of the gene specifying cytosine deaminase (cod) has been more precisely determined.