Uptake of cyanocobalamin by escherichia coli B: corrinoid specificity and the relationship of a binder

Cobalamin (coenzyme B12): synthesis and biological significance

This review examines deoxyadenosylcobalamin (Ado-B12) biosynthesis, transport, use, and uneven distribution among living forms. We describe how genetic analysis of enteric bacteria has contributed to these issues. Two pathways for corrin ring formation have been found-an aerobic pathway (in P. denitrificans) and an anaerobic pathway (in P. shermanii and S. typhimurium)-that differ in the point of cobalt insertion. Analysis of B12 transport in E. coli reveals two systems: one (with two proteins) for the outer membrane, and one (with three proteins) for the inner membrane. To account for the uneven distribution of B12 in living forms, we suggest that the B12 synthetic pathway may have evolved to allow anaerobic fermentation of small molecules in the absence of an external electron acceptor. Later, evolution of the pathway produced siroheme, (allowing use of inorganic electron acceptors), chlorophyll (O2 production), and heme (aerobic respiration). As oxygen became a larger part of the atmosphere, many organisms lost fermentative functions and retained dependence on newer, B12 functions that did not involve fermentation. Paradoxically, Salmonella spp. synthesize B12 only anaerobically but can use B12 (for degradation of ethanolamine and propanediol) only with oxygen. Genetic analysis of the operons for these degradative functions indicate that anaerobic degradation is important. Recent results suggest that B12 can be synthesized and used during anaerobic respiration using tetrathionate (but not nitrate or fumarate) as an electron acceptor. The branch of enteric taxa from which Salmonella spp. and E. coli evolved appears to have lost the ability to synthesize B12 and the ability to use it in propanediol and glycerol degradation. Salmonella spp., but not E. coli, have acquired by horizontal transfer the ability to synthesize B12 and degrade propanediol. The acquired ability to degrade propanediol provides the selective force that maintains B12 synthesis in this group.

Identification of the btuCED polypeptides and evidence for their role in vitamin B12 transport in Escherichia coli

Passage of vitamin B12 across the outer and cytoplasmic membranes of Escherichia coli occurs in two steps, each involving independent transport systems. Since the vitamin accumulated in btuC or btuD mutants is readily released from the cell by chase or osmotic shock and does not undergo the usual metabolic conversions, the products of these genes might participate in transport across the cytoplasmic membrane. Mutations in btuC and btuD are complemented by recombinant plasmids carrying a 3,410-base-pair HindIII-HincII DNA fragment. Transposon Tn1000 mutagenesis and subcloning defined the location of these two genes and showed that they are separated by approximately 800 base pairs. The polypeptides elicited by this fragment and its derivatives were identified by using a maxicell system. The apparent molecular weight of the btuC product was approximately 26,000, that of the btuD product was 29,000. Both polypeptides were associated with the cell membrane. Transposon insertions in the region between btuC and btuD, as well as those in the two genes, conferred a deficiency in vitamin B12 utilization and transport when they were crossed onto the chromosome. This region, termed btuE, encoded a 22,000-Mr polypeptide and lesser amounts of a 20,000-Mr species. A portion of the BtuE protein was released from maxicells by osmotic shock or spheroplast formation. The relative production of BtuE and BtuD in response to plasmids carrying transposon insertions suggested that the three genes are arranged in an operon in the order btuC-btuE-btuD and that internal promoters exist since polarity was incomplete. Substantial elevation of transport activity was engendered by plasmids carrying the intact btu region, but not when any of the btu genes was disrupted. The btuCED region thus may encode a transport system for passage of vitamin B12 across the cytoplasmic membrane. This system bears similarities to periplasmic binding protein-dependent transport systems, although the putative periplasmic component is not required for its function.

Transport of vitamin B12 in Escherichia coli: cloning of the btuCD region

The transport of vitamin B12 in Escherichia coli requires a specific vitamin B12 receptor protein in the outer membrane and the tonB gene product. In addition, the btuC gene, located at min 38 on the genetic map, has been found to influence vitamin B12 uptake or utilization. The btuC function is required for the growth response to vitamin B12 when the outer membrane transport process (btuB or tonB function) is defective. However, even in a wild-type strain, btuC is required for proper transport of vitamin B12. Additional mutations in the vicinity of btuC were isolated as lac fusions that produced a phenotype similar to that of a btuC mutant. The btuC region was cloned by selection for complementation of a btuC mutation. Complementation testing with plasmids carrying various deletions or transposon Tn1000 insertions demonstrated that the new mutations defined a separate, independently expressed locus, termed btuD. The coding regions for both genes were identified on a 3.4-kilobase HindIII-HincII fragment and were 800 to 1,000 base pairs in length. They were separated by a 600- to 800-base-pair region. The gene order in this portion of the chromosome map was found to be pps-zdh-3::Tn10-btuD-btuC-pheS. Expression of beta-galactosidase in the btuD-lac fusion-bearing strains, whether proficient or defective in vitamin B12 transport, was not regulated by the presence of vitamin B12 in the growth medium.

Relation of cell growth and colicin tolerance to vitamin B12 uptake in Escherichia coli

The uptake of vitamin B12 was measured in cells of Escherichia coli whose growth had been inhibited by any of a variety of treatments. In all cases, the secondary, energy-dependent phase of B12 uptake was depressed in proportion to the decrease in growth rate, but uptake was constant in cells growing logarithmically at different rates. The depression of B12 uptake activity was independent of the site of cell metabolism affected by the inhibitor or by its effect on cell viability, and was both more rapid and of greater degree than the effects on the uptake of any of the six amino acids tested. The decline was not affected by inhibitors of either cell division or proteolysis and was manifested without any apparent decrease in the surface B12 binding activity. Transport activity was rapidly regained upon reversal of the inhibition of protein synthesis. Prompted by this response, the uptake of B12 was contrasted to the apparent uptake of the E colicins, which share the same outer membrane receptor. Sensitivity to colicin E1, measured by its inhibition of proline uptake, was not affected by growth inhibition by antibiotic treatment. Finally, there was no specific depression of B12 uptake in cells rendered colicin tolerant either by mutation or as a consequence of phage f1 infection.

Transport of vitamin B12 in Escherichia coli: energy dependence

This paper presents some evidence that the osmotic shock-sensitive, energy-dependent transfer of vitamin B12 from outer membrane receptor sites into the interior of cells of Escherichia coli requires an energized inner membrane, without obligatory intermediation of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP). The experiments measured the effects of glucose, D-lactate, anaerobiosis, arsenate, cyanide, and 2,4-dinitrophenol upon the rates of B12 transport by starved cells of E. coli KBT001, which possesses a functional Ca2+, Mg2+-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (Ca,MgATPase), and of E. coli AN120, which lacks this enzyme. Both strains were able to utilize glucose and D-lactate aerobically to potentiate B12 transport, indicating that the Ca,MgATPase was not essential for this process. When respiratory electron transport was blocked, either by cyanide or by anaerobic conditions, and the primary source of energy for the cells was presumably ATP from glucose fermentation, the rate of B12 transport was much reduced in E. coli AN120 but not in E.coli KBT001. These results support the view that the CaMgATPase can play a role in B12 transport but only when the energy for this process must be derived from ATP. The results of experiments with arsenate also supported the conclusion that the generation of phosphate bond energy was not absolutely required for B12 transport.