Derepression and repression of the histidine operon: role of the feedback site of the first enzyme

Structural and physiological studies of the Escherichia coli histidine operon inserted into plasmid vectors

A fragment of deoxyribonucleic acid 5,300 base paris long and containing the promoter-proximal portion of the histidine operon of Escherichia coli K-12, has been cloned in plasmid pBR313 (plasmids pCB2 and pCB3). Restriction mapping, partial nucleotide sequencing, and studies on functional expression in vivo and on protein synthesis in minicells have shown that the fragment contains the regulatory region of the operon, the hisG, hisD genes, and part of the hisC gene. Another plasmid (pCB5) contained the hisG gene and part of the hisD gene. Expression of the hisG gene in the latter plasmid was under control of the tetracycline promoter of the pBR313 plasmid. The in vivo expression of the two groups of plasmids described above, as well as their effect on the expression of the histidine genes not carried by the plasmids but present on the host chromosome, has been studied. The presence of multiple copies of pCB2 or pCB3, but not of pCB5, prevented derepression of the chromosomal histidine operon. Possible interpretations of this phenomenon are discussed.

Biochemical-genetic study of the first enzyme of histidine biosynthesis in Salmonella typhimurium: substrate and feedback binding regions

Twenty-five strains of Salmonella typhimurium containing different mutations in the first gene of histidine biosynthesis were studied to correlate regions of the genetic map with biochemical functions. These strains contained either missense, double-frameshift, or suppressed nonsense mutations, all of which resulted in altered, though active, enzymes. Each mutant enzyme was assayed for activity in the presence of varying concentrations of the feedback inhibitor L-histidine or the substrates ATP and 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate. The feedback properties and substrate kinetics of each mutant enzyme were compared to wild-type values, and these results indicated that the following functions were correlated with regions of the hisG gene: feedback inhibition in two general areas, including regions IA and IB and regions V, VI, and VII; ATP binding in two general areas, including regions IA, IB, and II and regions V, VI, and VII; and 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate binding in two general areas, including regions IB, II, and III and regions V and VI.

Kinetic properties of ATP phosphoribosyltransferase of Escherichia coli

The reversible reaction catalyzed by ATP phosphoribosyltransferase favors the pyrophosphorolysis of phosphoribosyl-ATP (PR-ATP). The enzyme is inhibited by PR-ATP. To avoid this problem and measure with confidence initial rates of the transferase, we have purified more than one hundred fold the enzyme PR-ATP pyrophosphohydrolase, which irreversibly converts PR-ATP to PR-AMP. Using this coupled assay, we report on substrate kinetics and histidine inhibition studies of ATP phosphoribosyltransferase of Escherichia coli. 1. In the absence of histidine the variation of initial velocity as a function of ATP or phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (PRPP) concentration, follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with ATP inhibiting at high concentrations. In the presence of histidine a change from hyperbolic to sigmoidal kinetics is observed. 2. Apparently AMP acts as a competitive inhibitor of ATP. 3. The bisubstrate kinetics gives a pattern of parallel lines, suggesting a double displacement mechanism. 4. The inhibition by histidine appears not to be cooperative or perhaps slightly negatively cooperative.