The purification and analysis of mechanism of action of a cyclic AMP-receptor protein from Escherichia coli

Overproduction of the cyclic AMP receptor protein of Escherichia coli and expression of the engineered C-terminal DNA-binding domain

Overproduction of the cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) from Escherichia coli, up to 25% of the soluble cell protein, has been achieved in an inducible host-vector system under transcriptional control of the lambda promoter PL. This system is ideally suited for large scale production and purification of CRP. In addition, a structural gene for the DNA-binding domain of CRP has been constructed. To this end the nucleotide sequence coding for the C-terminus was fused to the sequence coding for the first 10 N-terminal amino acids and cloned into suitable vectors. Good expression was achieved using the lambda PL promoter. The gene product, beta CRP, is recognized by anti-CRP antibodies.

An equilibrium study of the cooperative binding of adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate and guanosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate to the adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate receptor protein from Escherichia coli

The binding of adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) and guanosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) to the adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate receptor protein (CRP) from Escherichia coli was investigated by equilibrium dialysis at pH 8.0 and 20 degrees C at different ionic strengths (0.05--0.60 M). Both cAMP and cGMP bind to CRP with a negative cooperativity that is progressively changed to positive as the ionic strength is increased. The binding data were analyzed with an interactive model for two identical sites and site/site interactions with the interaction free energy--RT ln alpha, and the intrinsic binding constant K and cooperativity parameter alpha were computed. Double-label experiments showed that cGMP is strictly competitive with cAMP, and its binding parameters K and alpha are not very different from that for cAMP. Since two binding sites exist for each of the cyclic nucleotides in dimeric CRP and no change in the quaternary structure of the protein is observed on binding the ligands, it is proposed that the cooperativity originates in ligand/ligand interactions. When bound to double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (dsDNA), CRP binds cAMP more efficiently, and the cooperativity is positive even in conditions of low ionic strength where it is negative for the free protein. By contrast, cGMP binding properties remained unperturbed in dsDNA-bound CRP. Neither the intrinsic binding constant K nor the cooperativity parameter alpha was found to be very sensitive to changes of pH between 6.0 and 8.0 at 0.2 M ionic strength and 20 degrees C. For these conditions, the intrinsic free energy and entropy of binding of cAMP are delta H degree = -1.7 kcal . mol-1 and delta S degree = 15.6 eu, respectively.

Regulation of genes coding for enzyme constituents of the bacterial phosphotransferase system

Regulation of the synthesis of the proteins of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system was systematically studied in wild-type and mutant strains of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. The results suggest that enzyme I and HPr as well as the glucose-specific and the mannose-specific enzymes II are synthesized by a mechanism which depends on (i) cyclic adenosine monophosphate and its receptor protein; (ii) extracellular inducer; (iii) the sugar-specific enzyme II complex which recognizes the inducing sugar; and (iv) the general energy-coupling proteins of the phosphotransferase system, enzyme I and HPr.

Mutation in the crp gene of Salmonella typhimurium which interferes with inducer exclusion

A mutation in the crp gene of Salmonella typhimurium is described which overcame the defects of ptsHI deletion mutants for growth on a number of nonphosphotransferase system compounds. This mutation abolished inducer exclusion in a leaky ptsI mutant. The possible implications for the mechanism of inducer exclusion are discussed.

Differential binding of cyclic adenosine 3' ,5'-monophosphate to the cyclic adenosine 3' ,5'-monophosphate receptor protein in Escherichia coli

Binding of cyclic adenosine 3' ,5'-monophosphate (cAMP) by the cAMP receptor protein in crude cell-free extracts of Escherichia coli was characterized. When cell were grown in glucose, binding was inhibited 50% relative to extracts from cells grown with succinate as carbon source . This inhibition could be relieved by dialysis.

Effects of crp mutations on adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate metabolism in Salmonella typhimurium

Wild-type Salmonella typhimurium could not grow with exogenous cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (AMP) as the sole source of phosphate, but mutants capable of cyclic AMP utilization could be isolated provided the parental strain contained a functional cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase.All cyclic AMP-utilizing mutants had the growth and fermentation properties of cyclic AMP receptor protein (crp) mutants, and some lacked cyclic AMP binding activity in vitro. The genetic defect in each such mutant was due to a single point mutation, which was co-transducible with cysG. crp mutants isolated by alternative procedures also exhibited the capacity to utilize cyclic AMP. crp mutants synthesized cyclic AMP at increased rates and contained enhanced cellular cyclic AMP levels relative to the parental strains, regardless of whether or not cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase was active. Moreover, adenylate cyclase activity in vivo was less sensitive to regulation by glucose, possibly because the enzyme II complexes of the phosphotransferase system, responsible for glucose transport and phosphorylation, could not be induced to maximal levels. This possibility was strengthened by the observation that enzyme II activity (measured both in vitro by sugar phosphorylation and in vivo by sugar transport and chemotaxis) was inducible in the parental strain but not in crp mutants. The results suggest that the cyclic AMP receptor protein regulates cyclic AMP metabolism as well as catabolic enzyme synthesis.