Transport of L-4-azaleucine in Escherichia coli

Complete Genome Sequences of Two Bacillus pumilus Strains from Cuatrociénegas, Coahuila, Mexico

We assembled the complete genome sequences of Bacillus pumilus strains 145 and 150a from Cuatrociénegas, Mexico. We detected genes codifying for proteins potentially involved in antagonism (bacteriocins) and defense mechanisms (abortive infection bacteriophage proteins and 4-azaleucine resistance). Both strains harbored prophage sequences. Our results provide insights into understanding the establishment of microbial interactions.

Screening of Streptococcus pneumoniae ABC transporter mutants demonstrates that LivJHMGF, a branched-chain amino acid ABC transporter, is necessary for disease pathogenesis

Bacterial ABC transporters are an important class of transmembrane transporters that have a wide variety of substrates and are important for the virulence of several bacterial pathogens, including Streptococcus pneumoniae. However, many S. pneumoniae ABC transporters have yet to be investigated for their role in virulence. Using insertional duplication mutagenesis mutants, we investigated the effects on virulence and in vitro growth of disruption of 9 S. pneumoniae ABC transporters. Several were partially attenuated in virulence compared to the wild-type parental strain in mouse models of infection. For one ABC transporter, required for full virulence and termed LivJHMGF due to its similarity to branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) transporters, a deletion mutant (DeltalivHMGF) was constructed to investigate its phenotype in more detail. When tested by competitive infection, the DeltalivHMGF strain had reduced virulence in models of both pneumonia and septicemia but was fully virulent when tested using noncompetitive experiments. The DeltalivHMGF strain had no detectable growth defect in defined or complete laboratory media. Recombinant LivJ, the substrate binding component of the LivJHMGF, was shown by both radioactive binding experiments and tryptophan fluorescence spectroscopy to specifically bind to leucine, isoleucine, and valine, confirming that the LivJHMGF substrates are BCAAs. These data demonstrate a previously unsuspected role for BCAA transport during infection for S. pneumoniae and provide more evidence that functioning ABC transporters are required for the full virulence of bacterial pathogens.

Linkage map of Escherichia coli K-12, edition 10: the traditional map

This map is an update of the edition 9 map by Berlyn et al. (M. K. B. Berlyn, K. B. Low, and K. E. Rudd, p. 1715-1902, in F. C. Neidhardt et al., ed., Escherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology, 2nd ed., vol. 2, 1996). It uses coordinates established by the completed sequence, expressed as 100 minutes for the entire circular map, and adds new genes discovered and established since 1996 and eliminates those shown to correspond to other known genes. The latter are included as synonyms. An alphabetical list of genes showing map location, synonyms, the protein or RNA product of the gene, phenotypes of mutants, and reference citations is provided. In addition to genes known to correspond to gene sequences, other genes, often older, that are described by phenotype and older mapping techniques and that have not been correlated with sequences are included.

The tdh and serA operons of Escherichia coli: mutational analysis of the regulatory elements of leucine-responsive genes

The tdh promoter of Escherichia coli is induced seven- to eightfold when cells are grown in the presence of exogenous leucine. A scheme was devised to select mutants that exhibited high constitutive expression of the tdh promoter. The mutations in these strains were shown to lie within a previously identified gene (lrp) that encodes Lrp (leucine-responsive regulatory protein). By deletion analysis, the site of action of Lrp was localized to a 25-bp region between coordinates -69 and -44 of the tdh promoter. Disruption of a 12-bp presumptive target sequence found in this region of tdh resulted in constitutively derepressed expression from the tdh promoter. Similar DNA segments (consensus, TTTATTCtNaAT) were also identified in a number of other promoters, including each of the Lrp-regulated promoters whose nucleotide sequence is known. The sequence of the promoter region of serA, an Lrp-regulated gene, was determined. No Lrp consensus target sequence was present upstream of serA, suggesting that Lrp acts indirectly on the serA promoter. A previously described mutation in a leucine-responsive trans-acting factor, LivR (J. J. Anderson, S. C. Quay, and D. L. Oxender, J. Bacteriol. 126:80-90, 1976), resulted in constitutively repressed expression from the tdh promoter and constitutively induced expression from the serA promoter. The possibility that LivR and Lrp are allelic is discussed.

Regulation of aromatic amino acid transport systems in Escherichia coli K-12

The regulation of the aromatic amino acid transport systems was investigated. The common (general) aromatic transport system and the tyrosine-specific transport system were found to be subject to repression control, thus confirming earlier reports. In addition, tryosine- and tryptophan-specific transport were found to be enhanced by growth of cells with phenylalanine. The repression and enhancement of the transport systems was abolished in a strain carrying an amber mutation in the regulator gene tyrR. This indicates that the tyrR gene product, which was previously shown to be involved in regulation of aromatic biosynthetic enzymes, is also involved in the regulation of the aromatic amino acid transport systems.

Role of transport systems in amino acid metabolism: leucine toxicity and the branched-chain amino acid transport systems

The livR locus, which leads to a trans-recessive derepression of branched-chain amino acid transport and periplasmic branched-chain amino acid-binding proteins, is responsible for greatly increased sensitivity toward growth inhibition by leucine, valine, and serine and, as shown previously, for increased sensitivity toward toxicity by branched-chain amino acid analogues, such as 4-azaleucine or 5',5',5'-trifluoroleucine. These phenotypes are similar to those of relA mutants; however, the livR mutants retain the stringent response of ribonucleic acid synthesis. However, an increase in the rate of transport or in the steady-state intracellular level of amino acids in the livR strain cannot completely account for this sensitivity. The ability of the LIV-I transport system to carry out exchange of pool amino acids for extracellular leucine is a major factor in leucine sensitivity. The previous finding that inhibition of threonine deaminase by leucine contributes to growth inhibition is confirmed by simulating the in vivo conditions using a toluene-treated cell preparation with added amino acids at levels corresponding to the internal pool. The relationship between transport systems and corresponding biosynthetic pathways is discussed and the general principle of a coordination in the regulation of transport and biosynthetic pathways is forwarded. The finding that the LIV-I transport system functions well for amino acid exchange in contrast to the LIV-II system provides another feature that distinguishes these systems in addition to previously described differences in regulation and energetics.

Mapping of two loci affecting the regulation of branched-chain amino acid transport in Escherichia coli K-12

Two mutant loci resulting in derepression of, respectively, the L-leucine-specific transport system (lstR) and both the leucine-specific and the general branched-chain amino acid transport LIV-I systems (livR) were mapped by conjugation and transduction. Both livR and lstR were found to be closely linked to aroA at min 20 on the Escherichia coli genetic map. The merodiploid livR+/livR displayed wild-type regulation of L-leucine transport, indicating that the livR product is a diffusible, negative controlling element for high-affinity leucine transport systems. Isogenic strains carrying lstR, livR, and wild-type transport alleles were compared for leucine uptake kinetic parameters and leucine-binding protein levels. The higher levels of leucine transport in the mutant strains under repressing conditions were generally due to increased high-affinity systems, which were accompanied by striking increases in the level of leucine-binding proteins.

Binding proteins and membrane transport

The recent studies have clearly established two types of active transport systems. One type is membrane-bound and can be observed in membrane vesicles and the other type is osmotic-shock-sensitive and requires binding proteins to produce active transport. It appears that the membrane-bound systems derive cellular energy from the energy-rich membrane state which can be formed from respiration or ATP-hydrolysis, while the binding protein systems are more directly coupled to phosphate bond energy derived from glycolysis or oxidative phosphorylation. The following conclusions concerning the role of the binding proteins are offered: 1. The binding proteins are present in relatively large amounts (approximately 10(-6) or 10%-5) M) and appear to reside in the periplasmic space. 2. They do not appear to be involved in solute translocation steps, although they cantain a second binding site that could interact with membrane components. 3. The binding proteins appear to increase the affinity of the transport system for the solute by interacting with a membrane component. This may substrate for the membrane transport system.