Catalytic and regulatory properties of meso-diaminopimelate-sensitive aspartokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus

Regulation of lysine and dipicolinic acid biosynthesis in Bacillus brevis ATCC 10068: significance of derepression of the enzymes during the change from vegetative growth to sporulation

Lysine biosynthetic pathway enzymes of Bacillus brevis ATCC 1068 were studied as a function of stage of development (growth and sporulation). The synthesis of aspartic-2-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (ASA-dehydrogenase), dihydrodipicolinate synthase (DHDPA-synthase), DHDPA-reductase and diaminopimelate decarboxylase (DAP-decarboxylase) was found not to be co-regulated, since lysine was not a co-repressor for these enzymes. Unlike the aspartokinase isoenzymes, the other enzymes of the lysine pathway were not derepressed in thiosine-resistant, lysine-excreting mutants. Thus, the aspartokinase isoenzymes were the key enzymes during growth and regulation of lysine biosynthesis through restriction of L-ASA synthesis via feedback control by lysine on the aspartokinases was therefore suggested. In contrast to other Bacillus species, the levels of the lysine biosynthetic pathway enzymes of strain ATCC 10068 were not derepressed during the change from vegetative growth to sporulation. Two control mechanisms, enabling the observed preferential channelling of carbon for the synthesis of spore-specific diaminopimelic acid (DAP) and dipicolinic acid (DPA) were a) loss of DAP-decarboxylase, b) inhibition of DHDPA-reductase by DPA. Increase in the level of the DAP pool during sporulation, as a consequence of the loss of DAP-decarboxylase, and its relevance to the non-enzymatic formation of DPA has been discussed.

Lysine- and lysine-plus-threonine-inhibitable aspartokinases in Bacillus brevis

Two aspartokinase (ATP:L-aspartate 4-phosphotrasferase, EC 2.7.2.4) enzyme activities have been identified and partially purified from Bacillus brevis. Aspartokinase I is subject to both inhibition and repression by lysine, and has a molecular weight in the region of 110 000. Aspartokinase II is a lysine-stabilised enzyme, inhibited multivalently by lysine plus theonine and has a molecular weight in the region of 95 000. This attern of aspartokinase activity has not been described previously and is unusual in that one end product (lysine) regulates two isoenzymes catalysing the first reaction of a branced biosynthetic pathway. In the absence of lysine, aspartokinase II changes to a more unstable non-inhibitable enzyme. Both enzymes are stabilised by sulphydryl reducing agents and have similar affinities for ATP, aspartate and lysine. However, there is no evidence for a view that they are products of a common gene. Problem concerned with the regulation of aspartokinase activities in Bacillus species are discussed.

Control of lysine biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis: inhibition of diaminopimelate decarboxylase by lysine

Diaminopimelate decarboxylase has been characterized in extracts of Bacillus subtilis and resolved from aspartokinases I and II. Under certain conditions, the enzyme is specifically inhibited by physiological concentrations of L-lysine, but less specificity and altered kinetics of inhibition are observed if lower ionic strengths are employed in the assay procedure. Diaminopimelate decarboxylase can be desensitized to lysine inhibition by either lowering the pH or diluting the enzyme in Tris buffer in the absence of pyridoxal phosphate. Evidence is presented to incidate that, under proper conditions, lysine inhibition involves an interaction of the amino acid with the enzyme rather than competition for available pyridoxal phosphate in the assay. Lysine, by affecting the level of meso-diaminopimelate, may thus regulate its biosynthesis through sequential feedback inhibition. Analysis of the diaminopimelate decarboxylase of 15 revertants of mutants that had originally lacked diaminopimelate decarboxylase activity indicates that as little as 5% of the specific activity of enzyme observed in the wild-type strain is sufficient to permit normal growth rates. In the growing cell, diaminopimelate decarboxylase may therefore exist largely in an inhibited state.

Comparison of acetohydroxy-acid synthetases from two extreme thermophilic bacteria

The acetohydroxy-acid synthetases from two extreme bacterial thermophiles, Thermus aquaticus and Bacillus sp., have been studied. The two enzymes have different pH optima, 8 and 6, respectively, and both are feedback inhibited by valine. The inhibition is of interest because it is not expressed below 60 C, but only at higher temperatures which are optimal for catalytic activity. Valine inhibition in T. aquaticus was noncompetitive, whereas in Bacillus sp., it was competitive. Isoleucine (10(-3) M) also inhibited the two enzymes, whereas leucine (10(-3) M) did not. There was no concerted feedback when the amino acids were added in together. The sensitivity of the enzymes to valine could not be removed by HgCl(2). Both enzymes required Mg(2+) and thiamine pyrophosphate for optimal activity, whereas only the enzyme from T. aquaticus required flavine adenine dinucleotide in addition. None of these cofactors was essential for the feedback inhibition caused by valine. The enzymes from both bacteria could be repressed, but only in the presence of all three branched-chain amino acids indicating that, as in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, the repression system is multivalent.