Cloning of the aroP gene and identification of its product in Escherichia coli K-12

Advances and prospects in metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for L-tryptophan production

As an important raw material for pharmaceutical, food and feed industry, highly efficient production of L-tryptophan by Escherichia coli has attracted a considerable attention. However, there are complicated and multiple layers of regulation networks in L-tryptophan biosynthetic pathway and thus have difficulty to rewrite the biosynthetic pathway for producing L-tryptophan with high efficiency in E. coli. This review summarizes the biosynthetic pathway of L-tryptophan and highlights the main regulatory mechanisms in E. coli. In addition, we discussed the latest metabolic engineering strategies achieved in E. coli to reconstruct the L-tryptophan biosynthetic pathway. Moreover, we also review a few strategies that can be used in E. coli to improve robustness and streamline of L-tryptophan high-producing strains. Lastly, we also propose the potential strategies to further increase L-tryptophan production by systematic metabolic engineering and synthetic biology techniques.

Metabolic engineering advances and prospects for amino acid production

Amino acid fermentation is one of the major pillars of industrial biotechnology. The multi-billion USD amino acid market is rising steadily and is diversifying. Metabolic engineering is no longer focused solely on strain development for the bulk amino acids L-glutamate and L-lysine that are produced at the million-ton scale, but targets specialty amino acids. These demands are met by the development and application of new metabolic engineering tools including CRISPR and biosensor technologies as well as production processes by enabling a flexible feedstock concept, co-production and co-cultivation schemes. Metabolic engineering advances are exemplified for specialty proteinogenic amino acids, cyclic amino acids, omega-amino acids, and amino acids functionalized by hydroxylation, halogenation and N-methylation.

Metabolic engineering for improving l-tryptophan production in Escherichia coli

l-Tryptophan is an important aromatic amino acid that is used widely in the food, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Compared with the traditional synthetic methods, production of l-tryptophan by microbes is environmentally friendly and has low production costs, and feed stocks are renewable. With the development of metabolic engineering, highly efficient production of l-tryptophan in Escherichia coli has been achieved by eliminating negative regulation factors, improving the intracellular level of precursors, engineering of transport systems and overexpression of rate-limiting enzymes. However, challenges remain for l-tryptophan biosynthesis to be cost-competitive. In this review, successful and applicable strategies derived from metabolic engineering for increasing l-tryptophan accumulation in E. coli are summarized. In addition, perspectives for further efficient production of l-tryptophan are discussed.

Knockdown of a nutrient amino acid transporter gene LdNAT1 reduces free neutral amino acid contents and impairs Leptinotarsa decemlineata pupation

A Leptinotarsa decemlineata SLC6 NAT gene (LdNAT1) was cloned. LdNAT1 was highly expressed in the larval alimentary canal especially midgut. LdNAT1 mRNA levels were high right after the molt and low just before the molt. JH and a JH analog pyriproxyfen activated LdNAT1 expression. RNAi of an allatostatin gene LdAS-C increased JH and upregulated LdNAT1 transcription. Conversely, silencing of a JH biosynthesis gene LdJHAMT decreased JH and reduced LdNAT1 expression. Moreover, 20E and an ecdysteroid agonist halofenozide repressed LdNAT1 expression, whereas a decrease in 20E by RNAi of an ecdysteroidogenesis gene LdSHD and disruption of 20E signaling by knockdown of LdE75 and LdFTZ-F1 activated LdNAT1 expression. Thus, LdNAT1 responded to both 20E and JH. Moreover, knockdown of LdNAT1 reduced the contents of cysteine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine and serine in the larval bodies and increased the contents of these amino acids in the larval feces. Furthermore, RNAi of LdNAT1 inhibited insulin/target of rapamycin pathway, lowered 20E and JH titers, reduced 20E and JH signaling, retarded larval growth and impaired pupation. These data showed that LdNAT1 was involved in the absorption of several neutral amino acids critical for larval growth and metamorphosis.

Identification of a plastidial phenylalanine exporter that influences flux distribution through the phenylalanine biosynthetic network

In addition to proteins, L-phenylalanine is a versatile precursor for thousands of plant metabolites. Production of phenylalanine-derived compounds is a complex multi-compartmental process using phenylalanine synthesized predominantly in plastids as precursor. The transporter(s) exporting phenylalanine from plastids, however, remains unknown. Here, a gene encoding a Petunia hybrida plastidial cationic amino-acid transporter (PhpCAT) functioning in plastidial phenylalanine export is identified based on homology to an Escherichia coli phenylalanine transporter and co-expression with phenylalanine metabolic genes. Radiolabel transport assays show that PhpCAT exports all three aromatic amino acids. PhpCAT downregulation and overexpression result in decreased and increased levels, respectively, of phenylalanine-derived volatiles, as well as phenylalanine, tyrosine and their biosynthetic intermediates. Metabolic flux analysis reveals that flux through the plastidial phenylalanine biosynthetic pathway is reduced in PhpCAT RNAi lines, suggesting that the rate of phenylalanine export from plastids contributes to regulating flux through the aromatic amino-acid network.

Characterization and molecular mechanism of AroP as an aromatic amino acid and histidine transporter in Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum is equipped with abundant membrane transporters to adapt to a changing environment. Many amino acid transporters have been identified in C. glutamicum, but histidine uptake has not been investigated in detail. Here, we identified the aromatic amino acid transporter encoded by aroP as a histidine transporter in C. glutamicum by a combination of the growth and histidine uptake features. Characterization of histidine uptake showed that AroP has a moderate affinity for histidine, with a Km value of 11.40 ± 2.03 μM, and histidine uptake by AroP is competitively inhibited by the aromatic amino acids. Among the four substrates, AroP exhibits a stronger preference for tryptophan than for tyrosine, phenylalanine, and histidine. Homology structure modeling and molecular docking were performed to predict the substrate binding modes and conformational changes during substrate transport. These results suggested that tryptophan is best accommodated in the binding pocket due to shape compatibility, strong hydrophobic interactions, and the lowest binding energy, which is consistent with the observed substrate preference of AroP. Furthermore, the missense mutations of the putative substrate binding sites verified that Ser24, Ala28, and Gly29 play crucial roles in substrate binding and are highly conserved in the Gram-positive bacteria. Finally, the expression of aroP is not significantly affected by extracellular histidine or aromatic amino acids, indicating that the physiological role of AroP may be correlated with the increased fitness of C. glutamicum to assimilate extracellular amino acid for avoiding the high energy cost of amino acid biosynthesis.

Knocking out analysis of tryptophan permeases in Escherichia coli for improving L-tryptophan production

Three permeases, Mtr, TnaB, and AroP, are involved in the uptake of L-tryptophan in Escherichia coli. These permeases possess individual function for cell transportation and metabolism, and affect extracellular L-tryptophan accumulation. In this study, by knocking out three tryptophan permeases separately and simultaneously in L-tryptophan-producing strain E. coli GPT1002, we analyzed the effect of permease knock out on L-tryptophan uptake, cell growth, and L-tryptophan production. We found that TnaB is the main transporter that is responsible for the uptake of L-tryptophan. Inactivation of tnaB improved the L-tryptophan production significantly, and inactivation of aroP has an additive effect on tnaB mutant. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis confirmed that knocking out permeases affects gene transcription and cell metabolism in many metabolic pathways. The tryptophan permease-deficient GPT1017 mutant exhibited the highest L-tryptophan production at 2.79 g l(-1), which is 51.6 % higher than that produced by the control strain. In 5-l bioreactor fermentation, the L-tryptophan production in GPT1017 reached 16.3 g l(-1).

Molecular basis of essential amino acid transport from studies of insect nutrient amino acid transporters of the SLC6 family (NAT-SLC6)

Two protein families that represent major components of essential amino acid transport in insects have been identified. They are annotated as the SLC6 and SLC7 families of transporters according to phylogenetic proximity to characterized amino acid transporters (HUGO nomenclature). Members of these families have been identified as important apical and basolateral parts of transepithelial essential amino acid absorption in the metazoan alimentary canal. Synergistically, they play critical physiological roles as essential substrate providers to diverse metabolic processes, including generic protein synthesis. This review briefly clarifies the requirements for amino acid transport and a variety of amino acid transport mechanisms, including the aforementioned families. Further it focuses on the large group of Nutrient Amino acid Transporters (NATs), which comprise a recently identified subfamily of the Neurotransmitter Sodium Symporter family (NSS or SLC6). The first insect NAT, cloned from the caterpillar gut, has a broad substrate spectrum similar to mammalian B(0) transporters. Several new NAT-SLC6 members have been characterized in an effort to explore mechanisms for the essential amino acid absorption in model dipteran insects. The identification and functional characterization of new B(0)-like and narrow specificity transporters of essential amino acids in fruit fly and mosquitoes leads to a fundamentally important insight: that NATs evolved and act together as the integrated active core of a transport network that mediates active alimentary absorption and systemic distribution of essential amino acids. This role of NATs is projected from the most primitive prokaryotes to the most complex metazoan organisms, and represents an interesting platform for unraveling the molecular evolution of amino acid transport and modeling amino acid transport disorders. The comparative study of NATs elucidates important adaptive differences between essential amino acid transportomes of invertebrate and vertebrate organisms, outlining a new possibility for selective targeting of essential amino acid absorption mechanisms to control medically and economically important arthropods and other invertebrate organisms.

The shikimate pathway and aromatic amino Acid biosynthesis in plants

L-tryptophan, L-phenylalanine, and L-tyrosine are aromatic amino acids (AAAs) that are used for the synthesis of proteins and that in plants also serve as precursors of numerous natural products, such as pigments, alkaloids, hormones, and cell wall components. All three AAAs are derived from the shikimate pathway, to which ≥30% of photosynthetically fixed carbon is directed in vascular plants. Because their biosynthetic pathways have been lost in animal lineages, the AAAs are essential components of the diets of humans, and the enzymes required for their synthesis have been targeted for the development of herbicides. This review highlights recent molecular identification of enzymes of the pathway and summarizes the pathway organization and the transcriptional/posttranscriptional regulation of the AAA biosynthetic network. It also identifies the current limited knowledge of the subcellular compartmentalization and the metabolite transport involved in the plant AAA pathways and discusses metabolic engineering efforts aimed at improving production of the AAA-derived plant natural products.

Biosynthesis of the Aromatic Amino Acids

This chapter describes in detail the genes and proteins of Escherichia coli involved in the biosynthesis and transport of the three aromatic amino acids tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan. It provides a historical perspective on the elaboration of the various reactions of the common pathway converting erythrose-4-phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate to chorismate and those of the three terminal pathways converting chorismate to phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. The regulation of key reactions by feedback inhibition, attenuation, repression, and activation are also discussed. Two regulatory proteins, TrpR (108 amino acids) and TyrR (513 amino acids), play a major role in transcriptional regulation. The TrpR protein functions only as a dimer which, in the presence of tryptophan, represses the expression of trp operon plus four other genes (the TrpR regulon). The TyrR protein, which can function both as a dimer and as a hexamer, regulates the expression of nine genes constituting the TyrR regulon. TyrR can bind each of the three aromatic amino acids and ATP and under their influence can act as a repressor or activator of gene expression. The various domains of this protein involved in binding the aromatic amino acids and ATP, recognizing DNA binding sites, interacting with the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase, and changing from a monomer to a dimer or a hexamer are all described. There is also an analysis of the various strategies which allow TyrR in conjunction with particular amino acids to differentially affect the expression of individual genes of the TyrR regulon.

The global gene expression response of Escherichia coli to l-phenylalanine

We investigated the global gene expression changes of Escherichia coli due to the presence of different concentrations of phenylalanine or shikimate in the growth medium. The response to 0.5 g l(-1) phenylalanine primarily reflected a perturbed aromatic amino acid metabolism, in particular due to TyrR-mediated regulation. The addition of 5g l(-1) phenylalanine reduced the growth rate by half and elicited a great number of likely indirect effects on genes regulated in response to changed pH, nitrogen or carbon availability. Consistent with the observed gene expression changes, supplementation with shikimate, tyrosine and tryptophan relieved growth inhibition by phenylalanine. In contrast to the wild-type, a tyrR disruption strain showed increased expression of pckA and of tktB in the presence of phenylalanine, but its growth was not affected by phenylalanine at the concentrations tested. The absence of growth inhibition by phenylalanine suggested that at high phenylalanine concentrations TyrR-defective strains might perform better in phenylalanine production.

Identification of the LIV-I/LS system as the third phenylalanine transporter in Escherichia coli K-12

In Escherichia coli, the active transport of phenylalanine is considered to be performed by two different systems, AroP and PheP. However, a low level of accumulation of phenylalanine was observed in an aromatic amino acid transporter-deficient E. coli strain (DeltaaroP DeltapheP Deltamtr Deltatna DeltatyrP). The uptake of phenylalanine by this strain was significantly inhibited in the presence of branched-chain amino acids. Genetic analysis and transport studies revealed that the LIV-I/LS system, which is a branched-chain amino acid transporter consisting of two periplasmic binding proteins, the LIV-binding protein (LIV-I system) and LS-binding protein (LS system), and membrane components, LivHMGF, is involved in phenylalanine accumulation in E. coli cells. The K(m) values for phenylalanine in the LIV-I and LS systems were determined to be 19 and 30 micro M, respectively. Competitive inhibition of phenylalanine uptake by isoleucine, leucine, and valine was observed for the LIV-I system and, surprisingly, also for the LS system, which has been assumed to be leucine specific on the basis of the results of binding studies with the purified LS-binding protein. We found that the LS system is capable of transporting isoleucine and valine with affinity comparable to that for leucine and that the LIV-I system is able to transport tyrosine with affinity lower than that seen with other substrates. The physiological importance of the LIV-I/LS system for phenylalanine accumulation was revealed in the growth of phenylalanine-auxotrophic E. coli strains under various conditions.

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.

Promoters and transcripts associated with the aroP gene of Escherichia coli

Analysis of in vitro transcriptional events initiating within the region immediately upstream of the aroP coding region has revealed the presence of three promoters, P1, P2, and P3. Both P1 and P2 give rise to mRNA encoding the AroP protein, whereas P3 initiates transcription in the opposite direction. Both P1 and P3 contain UP elements which contribute to promoter strength. Regulation of expression from these three promoters has been examined in vitro by using supercoiled DNA templates and in vivo by using lacZ transcriptional fusions and specific promoter mutants. Expression from P2 is partially repressed by TyrR alone both in vitro and in vivo. Addition of the aromatic amino acid tyrosine, phenylalanine, or tryptophan further increases this repression. P1 is not repressed by TyrR alone but is repressed in vivo in the presence of phenylalanine, tyrosine, or tryptophan. This also occurs in vitro but requires Ca2+ ions in the reaction mixture for its demonstration. Under these conditions, transcription from P3 is enhanced by TyrR protein with phenylalanine, tyrosine, or tryptophan. However, we were unable to demonstrate P3 expression in vivo. Under repressing conditions, there is no production of truncated RNA molecules (from P1), which would be expected if repression involved a roadblock mechanism.

A topological model for the general aromatic amino acid permease, AroP, of Escherichia coli

The general aromatic amino acid permease, AroP, of Escherichia coli is responsible for the active transport of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. A proposed topological model for the AroP permease, consisting of 12 hydrophobic transmembrane spans connected by hydrophilic loops, is very similar to that of the closely related phenylalanine-specific permease. The validity of this model and its similarity to that of the PheP permease were investigated by studying fusion proteins of AroP permease and alkaline phosphatase. Based on the results obtained from the AroP-alkaline phosphatase sandwich fusions, we have significantly revised the proposed topological model for AroP in two regions. In this modified AroP topological model, the three charged residues E151, E153, and K160 are repositioned within the membrane in span 5. These three residues are conserved in a large family of amino acid transport proteins, and site-directed mutagenesis identifies them as being essential for transport activity. It is postulated that these residues together with E110 in transmembrane span 3 may be involved in a proton relay system.

Functional analysis of sequences adjacent to dapE of Corynebacterium glutamicum reveals the presence of aroP, which encodes the aromatic amino acid transporter

An initially nonclonable DNA locus close to a gene of L-lysine biosynthesis in Corynebacterium glutamicum was analyzed in detail. Its stepwise cloning and its functional identification by monitoring the amino acid uptakes of defined mutants, together with mechanistic studies, identified the corresponding structure as aroP, the general aromatic amino acid uptake system.

Inhibition of expression of the tryptophanase operon in Escherichia coli by extrachromosomal copies of the tna leader region

Expression of the tryptophanase (tna) operon in Escherichia coli is regulated by catabolite repression and transcription attenuation. Expression is induced by the presence of elevated levels of tryptophan in a growth medium devoid of a catabolite-repressing carbon source. Induction requires the translation of a 24-residue coding region, tnaC, located in the 319-nucleotide transcribed leader region preceding tnaA, the structural gene for tryptophanase. Multicopy plasmids carrying the tnaC leader region were found to inhibit induction of the chromosomal tna operon. Mutational studies established that this inhibition was not due to inhibited transcription initiation, translation initiation, tryptophan transport, or enzyme activity. Rather, multicopy tnaC plasmids inhibited induction by preventing tryptophan-induced transcription antitermination in the leader region of the tna operon. Translation of the single Trp codon in tnaC of the multicopy plasmids was shown to be essential for this inhibition. We hypothesize that translation of the Trp codon of the leader peptide titrates out a trans-acting factor that is essential for tryptophan-induced antitermination in the chromosomal tna operon. We postulate that this factor is an altered form of tRNATrp.

The lysP gene encodes the lysine-specific permease

Escherichia coli transports lysine by two distinct systems, one of which is specific for lysine (LysP) and the other of which is inhibited by arginine ornithine. The activity of the lysine-specific system increases with growth in acidic medium, anaerobiosis, and high concentrations of lysine. It is inhibited by the lysine analog S-(beta-aminoethyl)-L-cysteine (thiosine). Thiosine-resistant (Tsr) mutants were isolated by using transpositional mutagenesis with TnphoA. A Tsr mutant expressing alkaline phosphatase activity in intact cells was found to lack lysine-specific transport. This lysP mutation was mapped to about 46.5 min on the E. coli chromosome. The lysP-phoA fusion was cloned and used as a probe to clone the wild-type lysP gene. The nucleotide sequence of the 2.7-kb BamHI fragment was determined. An open reading frame from nucleotides 522 to 1989 was observed. The translation product of this open reading frame is predicted to be a hydrophobic protein of 489 residues. The lysP gene product exhibits sequence similarity to a family of amino acid transport proteins found in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, including the aromatic amino acid permease of E. coli (aroP) and the arginine permease of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CAN1). Cells carrying a plasmid with the lysP gene exhibited a 10- to 20-fold increase in the rate of lysine uptake above wild-type levels. These results demonstrate that the lysP gene encodes the lysine-specific permease.

Molecular analysis of the TyrR protein-mediated activation of mtr gene expression in Escherichia coli K-12

Expression of the mtr gene, which encodes a tryptophan-specific transport system in Escherichia coli K-12, is activated by the TyrR protein. Two TyrR protein binding sites (TYR R boxes) are positioned upstream of the -35 promoter region. Mutational and DNase protection studies indicate that TyrR protein binds preferentially to the TYR R box closest to the promoter, and this is essential for activation of gene expression. In the presence of tyrosine and ATP, a second TyrR molecule is able to cooperatively bind to the second box and cause a further increase in the level of activation.

Physiological studies of tryptophan transport and tryptophanase operon induction in Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli forms three permeases that can transport the amino acid tryptophan: Mtr, AroP, and TnaB. The structural genes for these permeases reside in separate operons that are subject to different mechanisms of regulation. We have exploited the fact that the tryptophanase (tna) operon is induced by tryptophan to infer how tryptophan transport is influenced by the growth medium and by mutations that inactivate each of the permease proteins. In an acid-hydrolyzed casein medium, high levels of tryptophan are ordinarily required to obtain maximum tna operon induction. High levels are necessary because much of the added tryptophan is degraded by tryptophanase. An alternate inducer that is poorly cleaved by tryptophanase, 1-methyltryptophan, induces efficiently at low concentrations in both tna+ strains and tna mutants. In an acid-hydrolyzed casein medium, the TnaB permease is most critical for tryptophan uptake; i.e., only mutations in tnaB reduce tryptophanase induction. However, when 1-methyltryptophan replaces tryptophan as the inducer in this medium, mutations in both mtr and tnaB are required to prevent maximum induction. In this medium, AroP does not contribute to tryptophan uptake. However, in a medium lacking phenylalanine and tyrosine the AroP permease is active in tryptophan transport; under these conditions it is necessary to inactivate the three permeases to eliminate tna operon induction. The Mtr permease is principally responsible for transporting indole, the degradation product of tryptophan produced by tryptophanase action. The TnaB permease is essential for growth on tryptophan as the sole carbon source. When cells with high levels of tryptophanase are transferred to tryptophan-free growth medium, the expression of the tryptophan (trp) operon is elevated. This observation suggests that the tryptophanase present in these cells degrades some of the synthesized tryptophan, thereby creating a mild tryptophan deficiency. Our studies assign roles to the three permeases in tryptophan transport under different physiological conditions.

Regulation of expression of the Escherichia coli K-12 mtr gene by TyrR protein and Trp repressor

The Escherichia coli K-12 mtr gene, which encodes a tryptophan-specific permease, was cloned, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The precise location of the mtr gene at 69 min on the E. coli chromosome was determined. The mtr gene product was identified as a 414-amino-acid residue protein with a calculated molecular weight of 44,332. The protein is very hydrophobic, consistent with its presumed location spanning the cytoplasmic membrane. The initiation sites of transcription and translation were identified. Construction of an mtr-lacZ transcriptional fusion facilitated investigation of the molecular basis of mtr regulation. The TyrR protein in association with phenylalanine or tyrosine is responsible for the activation of mtr expression, whereas the Trp repressor in conjunction with tryptophan serves to repress expression of this gene. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed that sequences in the mtr regulatory region homologous to TyrR protein and to Trp repressor-binding sites were involved in the activation and repression of mtr expression, respectively. Sequences homologous to sigma 70- and sigma 54-dependent promoters were identified upstream of the transcription start point of mtr. It was determined that transcription of mtr occurs only via a sigma 70-dependent promoter.

Cloning and sequencing of the pheP gene, which encodes the phenylalanine-specific transport system of Escherichia coli

The phenylalanine-specific permease gene (pheP) of Escherichia coli has been cloned and sequenced. The gene was isolated on a 6-kb Sau3AI fragment from a chromosomal library, and its presence was verified by complementation of a mutant lacking the functional phenylalanine-specific permease. Subcloning from this fragment localized the pheP gene on a 2.7-kb HindIII-HindII fragment. The nucleotide sequence of this 2.7-kb region was determined. An open reading frame was identified which extends from a putative start point of translation (GTG at position 636) to a termination signal (TAA at position 2010). The assignment of the GTG as the initiation codon was verified by site-directed mutagenesis of the initiation codon and by introducing a chain termination mutation into the pheP-lacZ fusion construct. A single initiation site of transcription 30 bp upstream of the start point of translation was identified by the primer extension analysis. The pheP structural gene consists of 1,374 nucleotides specifying a protein of 458 amino acid residues. The PheP protein is very hydrophobic (71% nonpolar residues). A topological model predicted from the sequence analysis defines 12 transmembrane segments. This protein is highly homologous with the AroP (general aromatic transport) system of E. coli (59.6% identity) and to a lesser extent with the yeast permeases CAN1 (arginine), PUT4 (proline), and HIP1 (histidine) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A new family of integral membrane proteins involved in transport of aromatic amino acids in Escherichia coli

The nucleotide sequence of tnaB of the tryptophanase operon of Escherichia coli is presented. TnaB is a tryptophan-specific permease that is homologous to Mtr, a second tryptophan-specific permease, and to TyrP, a tyrosine-specific permease. Each member of this family appears to contain 11 membrane-spanning domains.

Cloning, nucleotide sequence, and characterization of mtr, the structural gene for a tryptophan-specific permease of Escherichia coli K-12

The mtr gene of Escherichia coli K-12 encodes an L-tryptophan-specific permease. This gene was originally identified through the isolation of mutations in the 69-min region of the chromosome, closely linked to argG. Cells with lesions in mtr display a phenotype of 5-methyltryptophan resistance. The mtr gene was cloned by using the mini-Mu system. The amino acid sequence of Mtr (414 codons), deduced by DNA sequence analysis, was found to be 33% identical to that of another single-component transport protein, the tyrosine-specific permease, TyrP. The hydropathy plots of the two permeases were similar. Possible operator sites for the tyrosine and tryptophan repressors are situated within the region of DNA that is likely to be the mtr promoter.

Cosmid-derived map of E. coli strain BHB2600 in comparison to the map of strain W3110

A physical map for the genome of E. coli K12 strain BHB2600 was constructed by use of 570 cloned DNA elements (CDEs) withdrawn from a cosmid library. Dot blot hybridisation was applied to establish contig interrelations with subsequent fine mapping achieved by analysis of EcoR1 restriction patterns on Southern blots. The derived map covers nearly 95% of the E. coli genome resulting in 12 minor gaps. It may be compared to the almost complete map for strain W3110 of Kohara et al. (1). Except for one tiny gap (lpp,36.5') remaining gaps in BHB2600 do not coincide with those in W3110 so that both maps complement each other establishing an essentially complete clone represented map. Besides numerous minute differences (site and fragment gains and losses) both strains harbour at differing positions extended rearrangements flanked by mutually inverted repetitive elements, in our case insertion elements (IS1 and IS5).

Nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding the GMP reductase of Escherichia coli K12

(1) The nucleotide sequence of a 1991 bp segment of DNA that expresses the GMP reductase (guaC) gene of Escherichia coli K12 was determined. (2) This gene comprises 1038 bp, 346 codons (including the initiation codon but excluding the termination codon), and it encodes a polypeptide of Mr 37,437 which is in good agreement with previous maxicell studies. (3) The sequence contains a putative promoter 102 bp upstream of the translational start codon, and this is immediately followed by a (G + C)-rich discriminator sequence suggesting that guaC expression may be under stringent control (4) The GMP reductase exhibits a high degree of sequence identity (34%) with IMP dehydrogenase (the guaB gene product) indicative of a close evolutionary relationship between the salvage pathway and the biosynthetic enzymes, GMP reductase and IMP dehydrogenase, respectively. (5) A single conserved cysteine residue, possibly involved in IMP binding to IMP dehydrogenase, was located within a region that possesses some of the features of a nucleotide binding site. (6) The IMP dehydrogenase polypeptide contains an internal segment of 123 amino acid residues that has no counterpart in GMP reductase and may represent an independent folding domain flanked by (alanine + glycine)-rich interdomain linkers.

Genetic and molecular characterization of the guaC-nadC-aroP region of Escherichia coli K-12

The guaC (GMP reductase), nadC (quinolinate phosphoribosyltransferase), and aroP (aromatic amino acid permease) genes of Escherichia coli K-12 were located in the 2.5-min region of the chromosome (muT-guaC-nadC-aroP-aceE) by a combination of linkage analysis, deletion mapping, restriction analysis, and plasmid subcloning. The guaC locus expressed a product of Mr 37,000 with a clockwise transcriptional polarity, and the GMP reductase activities of guaC+ plasmid-containing strains were amplified 15- to 20-fold.

Inactivation of the ampD gene causes semiconstitutive overproduction of the inducible Citrobacter freundii beta-lactamase

In Citrobacter freundii and Enterobacter cloacae, synthesis of AmpC beta-lactamase is inducible by the addition of beta-lactams to the growth medium. Spontaneous mutants that constitutively overproduce the enzyme occur at a high frequency. When the C. freundii ampC beta-lactamase gene is cloned into Escherichia coli together with the regulatory gene ampR, beta-lactamase expression from the clone is inducible. Spontaneous cefotaxime-resistant mutants were selected from an E. coli strain carrying the cloned C. freundii ampC and ampR genes on a plasmid. Virtually all isolates had chromosomal mutations leading to semiconstitutive overproduction of beta-lactamase. The mutation ampD2 in one such mutant was caused by an IS1 insertion into the hitherto unknown ampD gene, located between nadC and aroP at minute 2.4 on the E. coli chromosome. The wild-type ampD allele cloned on a plasmid could fully trans-complement beta-lactamase-overproducing mutants of both E. coli and C. freundii, restoring the wild-type phenotype of highly inducible enzyme synthesis. This indicates that these E. coli and C. freundii mutants have their lesions in ampD. We hypothesize that induction of beta-lactamase synthesis is caused by blocking of the AmpD function by the beta-lactam inducer and that this leads directly or indirectly to an AmpR-mediated stimulation of ampC expression.

Transcription control of the aroP gene in Escherichia coli K-12: analysis of operator mutants

The nucleotide sequence of the region containing the promoter-operator for the aroP gene was determined. The start site of aroP transcription was identified by using S1 nuclease mapping and primer extension techniques. Examination of the nucleotide sequence revealed the presence of two "TYR R" boxes which are similar to those identified in the regulatory regions of other genes in the tyrR regulon. Bisulfite-induced aroP operator-constitutive mutants were analyzed, and the base-pair changes responsible for alterations in aroP regulation were located within these boxes.