Regulation of purE transcription in a purE::lac fusion strain of Escherichia coli

Genes of the Escherichia coli pur regulon are negatively controlled by a repressor-operator interaction

Fusions of lacZ were constructed to genes in each of the loci involved in de novo synthesis of IMP. The expression of each pur-lacZ fusion was determined in isogenic purR and purR+ strains. These measurements indicated 5- to 17-fold coregulation of genes purF, purHD, purC, purMN, purL, and purEK and thus confirm the existence of a pur regulon. Gene purB, which encodes an enzyme involved in synthesis of IMP and in the AMP branch of the pathway, was not regulated by purR. Each locus of the pur regulon contains a 16-base-pair conserved operator sequence that overlaps with the promoter. The purR product, purine repressor, was shown to bind specifically to each operator. Thus, binding of repressor to each operator of pur regulon genes negatively coregulates expression.

Nucleotide sequence analysis of the purEK operon encoding 5'-phosphoribosyl-5-aminoimidazole carboxylase of Escherichia coli K-12

5'-Phosphoribosyl-5-aminoimidazole (AIR) carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.21) catalyzes step 6, the carboxylation of AIR to 5'-phosphoribosyl-5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxylic acid, in the de novo biosynthesis of purine nucleotides. As deduced from the DNA sequence of restriction fragments encoding AIR carboxylase and supported by maxicell analyses, AIR carboxylase was found to be composed of two nonidentical subunits. In agreement with established complementation data, the catalytic subunit (deduced Mr, 17,782) was encoded by the purE gene, while the CO2-binding subunit (deduced Mr, 39,385) was encoded by the purK gene. These two genes formed an operon in which the termination codon of the purE gene overlapped the initiation codon of the purK gene. The 5' end of the purEK mRNA was determined by mung bean nuclease mapping and was located 41 nucleotides upstream of the proposed initiation codon. The purEK operon is regulated by the purR gene product, and a purR regulatory-protein-binding site related to the sequences found in other pur loci was identified in the purEK operon control region.

Overproduction, purification, and characterization of adenylosuccinate synthetase from Escherichia coli

Adenylosuccinate synthetase, encoded by the purA gene of Escherichia coli, catalyzes the first committed step toward AMP in the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway and plays an important role in the interconversion of purines. A 3.2-kb DNA fragment, which carries the purA gene, was cloned into the temperature-inducible, high-copy-number plasmid vector, pMOB45. Upon temperature induction, cells containing this plasmid produce adenylosuccinate synthetase at approximately 40 times the wild-type level. A scheme is presented for the purification of the overproduced adenylosuccinate synthetase to homogeneity in amounts sufficient for studies of its structure and mechanism. The wild-type and the overproduced adenylosuccinate synthetase enzyme preparations were judged to be identical by the following criteria. The amino acid sequence at the N-terminus of the overproduced enzyme proved identical to the corresponding sequence of the wild-type enzyme. Michaelis constants for both the wild-type and overproduced enzyme preparations were the same. And (iii) both proteins shared similar chromatographic behavior and the same mobility during sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Results from size-exclusion chromatography and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis suggest that adenylosuccinate synthetase exists as a dimer of identical, 48,000-Da, subunits.

Studies on the structure and expression of Escherichia coli pyrC, pyrD, and pyrF using the cloned genes

The Escherichia coli pyrC, pyrD and pyrF genes were cloned on multicopy plasmids derived from pBR322 and analysed by means of restriction endonucleases. It was found that the pyrC gene is destroyed by cutting with the restriction endonuclease BamHI, that the entire pyrD gene can be isolated on a 1300-base pairs DNA fragment generated by EcoRI cleavage and that cutting with EcoRI removes the promotor and probably also the translational start site from the pyrF gene. More details on the restriction maps are presented. Further, it was found that the presence of a pyr gene in multiple copies on a plasmid does not significantly interfere with the activity of the chromosomal pyr genes. Using the 'minicell' technique, the polypeptides encoded by the three cloned pyr genes were identified. The relative molecular masses for the pyrC-encoded and pyrD-encoded polypeptides are 38 000-40 000 and 36 000-38 000, respectively. Thus in their native form, dihydroorotase and dihydroorotate oxidase appear to be dimeric proteins. The 'minicell' experiments positively identified a protein chain of Mr 23 000-24 000 as being a subunit of OMP decarboxylase encoded by pyrF. Moreover, the coding frame for this polypeptide seems to be expressed as the first gene in the operon with the coding frame for another protein chain of Mr 13 000-14 000. Since, however, the native OMP decarboxylase during sedimentation and gel filtration behaves as a protein of Mr 45 000 +/- 4000, this latter polypeptide (Mr 13 000-14 000) is hardly a component of the enzyme. Pyr-lac+ operon fusions were constructed by the Mu d1 procedure. By integrating an F'lac episome into the lac part of the fusions and determining the direction of chromosomal transfer from the resultant Hfr strains, the direction of pyrC transcription was found to be counter-clockwise, while pyrD and pyrF were found to be transcribed in a clockwise direction.

Identification of the purC gene product of Escherichia coli

The purC region of the Escherichia coli chromosome was isolated from in vivo-derived lambda transducing bacteriophages and cloned in high-copy-number plasmids. The product of the purC gene, phosphoribosylaminoimidazolesuccinocarboxamide synthetase, was identified as a protein with an Mr of ca. 27,000. The level of the protein is increased by more than 60-fold in strains carrying the gene on a high-copy-number plasmid. Purine addition represses the enzyme level in both plasmid- and non-plasmid-containing strains.

Nucleotide sequence of the Escherichia coli pyrE gene and of the DNA in front of the protein-coding region

Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.10) was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from a strain of Escherichia coli containing the pyrE gene cloned on a multicopy plasmid. The relative molecular masses (Mr) of the native enzyme and its subunit were estimated by means of gel filtration and electrophoresis in the presence of dodecyl sulfate. The amino acid sequences at the N and C termini, as well as the amino acid composition, were determined. The nucleotide sequence of the structural pyrE gene, including 394 nucleotide residues preceding the beginning of the coding frame, was also established. From the results the following conclusions may be drawn. Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase is a dimeric protein with subunits of Mr 23 326 consisting of 211 amino acid residues. The pyrE gene is transcribed in a counter-clock wise direction from the E. coli chromosome as an mRNA with a considerable leader segment in front of the protein-coding region. This leader contains a structure with features characteristic for a (translated?) rho-independent transcriptional terminator, which is preceded by a cluster of uridylate residues. This indicates that the frequency of pyrE transcription is regulated by an RNA polymerase (UTP) modulated attenuation.

Construction and use of pyr::lac fusion strains to study regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis in Salmonella typhimurium

The technique developed by Rosenfeld and Brenchley [J Bacteriol 144, 848-851 (1980)] has been used to introduce Mu d1 (Apr lac) into Salmonella typhimurium for purposes of constructing pyr::lac fusion strains. A stable pyrB::lac fusion mutant was subsequently derived and used for the genetic characterization of the pyrB gene. The direction of transcription of pyrB was determined to be counterclockwise on the S. typhimurium linkage map and argI was shown to be located clockwise of pyrB. Mutants altered in the regulation of expression of pyrB were isolated and two of the isolates chosen for further study were tentatively categorized as promoter or operator mutants.

Role of hypoxanthine and guanine in regulation of Salmonella typhimurium pur gene expression

Data are presented which indicate that the repression of pur gene expression seen after the addition of preformed purines to cultures of Salmonella typhimurium is the consequence of the presence or the formation of the purine bases, hypoxanthine and guanine. This conclusion is based on the following observations. First, it was impossible to find a correlation between the size of any individual purine nucleotide pool and the level of the first four enzymes in the de novo biosynthetic pathway. Second, adenine plus guanosine served as a perfect source of purine nucleotides, but their presence caused no repression of pur gene expression if the cells lacked purine nucleoside phosphorylase activity. This enzyme is needed to convert adenine and guanosine to hypoxanthine and guanine, but not for their conversion to nucleotides. Third, addition of guanine to a strain lacking guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (gpt) resulted in a repression of the level of the purine de novo biosynthetic enzymes, a reduction of the growth rate, and a fall in the pools of ATP and GTP. Addition of hypoxanthine to a strain lacking hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (hpt) had a similar, although weaker, effect. If the cells lacked both hypoxanthine and guanine phosphoribosyltransferases (hpt gpt), their basal level of the purine de novo biosynthetic enzymes was repressed in minimal medium. Such cells grow slower than wild-type cells and excrete purines, probably due to the inability to salvage endogenously formed hypoxanthine and guanine.