A new regulatory gene for the tryptophan operon of Escherichia coli

Selective inhibition of apicoplast tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase causes delayed death in Plasmodium falciparum

The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum relies on efficient protein translation. An essential component of translation is the tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) that charges tRNA^trp. Here we characterise two isoforms of TrpRS in Plasmodium; one eukaryotic type localises to the cytosol and a bacterial type localises to the remnant plastid (apicoplast). We show that the apicoplast TrpRS aminoacylates bacterial tRNA^trp while the cytosolic TrpRS charges eukaryotic tRNA^trp. An inhibitor of bacterial TrpRSs, indolmycin, specifically inhibits aminoacylation by the apicoplast TrpRS in vitro, and inhibits ex vivo Plasmodium parasite growth, killing parasites with a delayed death effect characteristic of apicoplast inhibitors. Indolmycin treatment ablates apicoplast inheritance and is rescuable by addition of the apicoplast metabolite isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP). These data establish that inhibition of an apicoplast housekeeping enzyme leads to loss of the apicoplast and this is sufficient for delayed death. Apicoplast TrpRS is essential for protein translation and is a promising, specific antimalarial target.

Attenuation in the control of expression of bacterial operons

Bacterial operons concerned with the biosynthesis of amino acids are often controlled by a process of attenuation. The translation product of the initial segment of the transcript of each operon is a peptide rich in the amino acid that the particular operon controls. If the amino acid is in short supply translation is stalled at the relevant codons of the transcript long enough for the succeeding segment of the transcript to form secondary structures that allow the transcribing RNA polymerase molecule to proceed through a site that otherwise dictates termination of transcription. This site is the attenuator; the process is attenuation.

Threonyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase and the regulation of the threonine operon in Escherichia coli

Two threonine-requiring mutants with derepressed expression of the threonine operon were isolated from an Escherichia coli K-12 strain containing two copies of the thr operon. One of them carries a leaky mutation in ilvA (the structural gene for threonine deaminase), which creates an isoleucine limitation and therefore derepression of the thr operon. In the second mutant, the enzymes of the thr operon were not repressed by threonine plus isoleucine; the threonyl-transfer ribonucleic acid(tRNA) synthetase from this mutant shows an apparent Km for threonine 200-fold higher than that of the parental strain. The gene, called thrS, coding for threonyl-tRNA synthetase was located around 30 min on the E. coli map. The regulatory properties of this mutant imply the involvement of charged threonyl-tRNA or threonyl-tRNA synthetase in the regulation of the thr operon.

Mutagenic activity of cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and trofosfamide in different genes of escherichia coli and salmonella typhimurium after biotransformation through extracts of rodent liver

Experiments are performed to compare the mutagenic properties of the three phosphamide esters of nitrogen mustard, cyclophosphamide (CP), ifosfamide (IF), and trofosfamide (TF), in different bacterial systems. The systems include forward mutations leading to resistance against 5-methyltryptophan (MTR) and from galR-s18 to gal-+ in Escherichia coli 343/113, back mutations from arg56 to arg-+ in Escherichia coli 343/113 and back mutations from hisG46 to his-+ in Salmonella typhimurium TA1535. CP, IF, and TF are not mutagenic per se. After biotransformation through isolated rodent liver homogenates (S-9 fraction) all three compounds exhibit mutagenic activity in the order CP smaller than IF smaller than TF. Specific activating potential of mouse liver extracts is higher than that of rat liver. Except for back mutations in S. typhimurium TA1535, all mutation systems tested show a similar pattern of induction after treatment with CP, IF, and TF. However, because gal-+ mutations are not induced by CP under conditions where arg-+ and MTR are induced, it is suggested that more than one mutational system be used in routine mutagenicity testing.

Histidyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase mutants requiring a high internal pool of histidine for growth

Mutants that require histidine due to an altered structural gene for the histidyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase (hisS) have been isolated by a general selection for histidine-requiring strains in which the mutation producing histidine auxotrophy is unlinked to the histidine operon. One of the mutants has been shown to require an abnormally high internal histidine pool for growth owing to an altered synthetase that is unstable at low histidine concentrations. It is difficult to determine accurately the K(m) for histidine of the synthetase enzyme from the mutant because of the instability of the enzyme at limiting histidine concentrations; however, a histidine K(m) value has been estimated that is approximately 100 times higher than the histidine K(m) of the wild-type enzyme. For the mutant strains to achieve the high internal pool of histidine required for growth, all the systems that transport histidine from the growth medium must be functioning to capacity. Amino acids that interfere with histidine transport strongly inhibit the growth of the mutants. The mutants have been useful in providing a selective genetic marker for transductional mapping in the hisS region. The mutants are discussed as representative of a general class of curable mutants that have an altered enzyme with poor affinity for a substrate or coenzyme.

In vitro repression of transcription of the tryptophan operon by trp repressor

The in vitro repression of transcription of the tryptophan operon by the trp repressor from Escherichia coli was studied. By measuring the inhibitory effect for trp-specific RNA synthesis in an in vitro transcription system directed by DNA of trp-transducing phage, we have detected and concentrated a trp repressor in an eluate of a Phi80 ptED native DNA-cellulose column. The repression of transcription of trp operon required the addition of L-tryptophan in the system, and when several tryptophan analogues were added, the repression or derepression was similar to that observed in vivo. The repressor fraction was separated from the majority of tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase activity by Bio-gel P60 column chromatography.

Mutant strains of Escherichia coli K-12 exhibiting enhanced sensitivity to 5-methyltryptophan

Eighteen mutants (designated MT(s)), isolated in Escherichia coli K-12, showed increased sensitivity to inhibition of growth by 5-methyltryptophan. All mutants were also much more sensitive to 4-methyltryptophan and 7-azatryptophan but exhibited near normal sensitivity to 5-fluorotryptophan and 6-fluorotryptophan. All of the mutations were linked to the trp operon. Their locations within the trp operon were established by deletion mapping. There was good agreement between the map position of an MT(s) mutation and a lowered activity of one of the tryptophan pathway enzymes. Three mutants, one of which contained a mutation that mapped within the trpE gene, were deficient in their ability to use glutamine as an amino donor in the formation of anthranilic acid. Another trpE mutation led to the production of an anthranilate synthetase with an increased sensitivity to feedback inhibition by tryptophan.

Isolating tryptophan regulatory mutants in Escherichia coli by using a trp-lac fusion strain

A trp-lac fusion strain of Escherichia coli in which the lac structural genes are part of the tryptophan operon has been used to isolate trp regulatory mutants. This was accomplished by isolating lac(+) colonies on either lactose-minimal agar or lactose-MacConkey indicator agar. Seventy-seven of 78 lac(+) isolates contained mutations which mapped near the ara locus and most of these isolates were found to be 5-methyltryptophan-resistant after introduction of an F-trp episome. The lac(+) phenotypes of these 77 isolates were therefore probably the result of trpR(-) mutations. The one remaining isolate carried a mutation which was not part of the trp regulatory system.

Isoleucine auxotrophy as a consequence of a mutationally altered isoleucyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase

Among mutants which require isoleucine, but not valine, for growth, we have found two distinguishable classes. One is defective in the biosynthetic enzyme threonine deaminase (l-threonine hydro-lyase, deaminating, EC 4.2.1.16) and the other has an altered isoleucyl transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase [l-isoleucine: soluble RNA ligase (adenosine monophosphate), EC 6.1.1.5]. The mutation which affects ileS, the structural gene for isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase, is located between thr and pyrA at 0 min on the map of the Escherichia coli chromosome. This mutationally altered isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase has an apparent K(m) for isoleucine ( approximately 1 mm) 300-fold higher than that of the enzyme from wild type; on the other hand, the apparent V(max) is altered only slightly. When the mutationally altered ileS allele was introduced into a strain which overproduces isoleucine, the resulting strain could grow without addition of isoleucine. We conclude that the normal intracellular isoleucine level is not high enough to allow efficient charging to tRNA(Ile) by the mutant enzyme because of the K(m) defect. A consequence of the alteration in isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase was a fourfold derepression of the enzymes responsible for isoleucine biosynthesis. Thus, a functional isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase is needed for isoleucine to act as a regulator of its own biosynthesis.

Evidence that tryptophanyl transfer ribonucleic acid is not the corepressor of the tryptophan operon of Escherichia coli

When a growing culture of a tryptophan auxotroph of Escherichia coli is transferred to a tryptophan-free medium, the bacteria exhaust their supply of Trp-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA). Under these conditions transcription of the trp operon is derepressed. When l-tryptophan, dl-4-methyltrytophan, dl-6-methyltryptophan, or dl-7-azatryptophan is added to a tryptophan-starved culture, charging to tRNA(Trp) can be detected with each of these compounds except 6-methyltryptophan. Under these conditions, transcription initiations on the trp operon are repressed completely by tryptophan, 4-methyltryptophan, and 6-methyltryptophan, but only slightly by 7-azatryptophan. If a culture of a bacterium containing an altered tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (trpS(-)) is starved for tryptophan in the same manner, tRNA(Trp) is uncharged, but transcription of the operon is derepressed to only about one-third the level observed in trpS(+) cultures. When tryptophan, 4-methyltryptophan, 6-methyltryptophan, or 7-azatryptophan is added to a tryptophan-starved trpS(-) culture, tRNA(Trp) is charged with tryptophan but apparently not with the analogues. However, tryptophan, 4-methyltryptophan, and 6-methyltryptophan completely repress transcription initiations, whereas 7-azatryptophan derepresses transcription initiations to approximately the level of partial repression observed in trpS(+) cultures in the presence of 7-azatryptophan. When tryptophan is added to a tryptophan-starved trpS10110 culture, there is a 2-min delay before tRNA(Trp) appears to be charged. However, under these conditions, transcription initiations on the trp operon are repressed immediately by the addition of tryptophan. We interpret these results as indicating that Trp-tRNA is not the corepressor of the trp operon.

Isolation and partial characterization of Escherichia coli mutants with altered glycyl transfer ribonucleic acid synthetases

Isolates with mutations in glyS, the structural gene for glycyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase (GRS) in Escherichia coli, are frequently found among glycine auxotrophs. Extracts of glyS mutants have altered GRS activities. The mutants grow with normal growth rates in minimal media when high levels of glycine are provided. No other metabolite of a variety tested is capable of restoring normal growth. The glyS mutants fail to make ribonucleic acid (RNA) when depleted of exogenous glycine in strains which are RC(str) but do so when the cells are RC(rel). In contrast, biosynthetic mutants which are unable to synthesize glycine (glyA mutants) do not make RNA when deprived of glycine even if they are RC(rel); in this case, RNA is synthesized upon glycine deprivation only when the nucleic acid precursors made from glycine are provided in the medium. The level of serine transhydroxymethylase is unaltered in extracts of any of the glyS mutants, even though the level of charged tRNA(Gly) is at least 20-fold lower than that found in a prototrophic parent; this indicates that, if there is control over the synthesis of serine transhydroxymethylase, it is not modified by reduced levels of charging of the major species of tRNA(Gly).

Temperature-sensitive repression of the tryptophan operon in Escherichia coli

Mutants of Escherichia coli exhibiting temperature-sensitive repression of the tryptophan operon have been isolated among the revertants of a tryptophan auxotroph, trpS5, that produces an altered tryptophanyl transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase. Unlike the parental strain, these mutants grew in the absence of tryptophan at high but not at low temperature. When grown at 43.5 C with excess tryptophan (repression conditions), they produced 10 times more anthranilate synthetase than when grown at 36 C or lower temperatures. Similar, though less striking, temperature-sensitivity was observed with respect to the formation of tryptophan synthetase. Transduction mapping by phage P1 revealed that these mutants carry a mutation cotransducible with thr at 60 to 80%, in addition to trpS5, and that the former mutation is primarily responsible for the temperature-sensitive repression. These results suggest that the present mutants represent a novel type of mutation of the classical regulatory gene trpR, which probably determines the structure of a protein involved in repression of the tryptophan operon. In agreement with this conclusion, tRNA of several trpR mutants was found to be normal with respect to its tryptophan acceptability. It was also shown that the trpS5 allele, whether present in trpR or trpR(+) strains, produced appreciably higher amounts of anthranilate synthetase than the corresponding trpS(+) strains under repression conditions. This was particularly true at higher temperatures. These results provide further evidence for our previous conclusion that tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase is somehow involved in repression of this operon.