Metabolic engineering of ammonium assimilation in xylose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae improves ethanol production.
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Cofactor imbalance impedes xylose assimilation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that has been metabolically engineered for xylose utilization. To improve cofactor use, we modified ammonia assimilation in recombinant S. cerevisiae by deleting GDH1, which encodes an NADPH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase, and by overexpressing either GDH2, which encodes an NADH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase, or GLT1 and GLN1, which encode the GS-GOGAT complex. Overexpression of GDH2 increased ethanol yield from 0.43 to 0.51 mol of carbon (Cmol) Cmol(-1), mainly by reducing xylitol excretion by 44%. Overexpression of the GS-GOGAT complex did not improve conversion of xylose to ethanol during batch cultivation, but it increased ethanol yield by 16% in carbon-limited continuous cultivation at a low dilution rate. (+info)
Expression of the argA gene carried by a defective lambda bacteriophage of Escherichia coli.
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Evidence is presented that the increase in specific activity of N-acetylglutamate synthase observed upon heat induction of Escherichia coli (lambdadargA) is primarily due to a gene dosage effect. (+info)
Characterization of the regulon controlled by the leucine-responsive regulatory protein in Escherichia coli.
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The leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) has been shown to regulate, either positively or negatively, the transcription of several Escherichia coli genes in response to leucine. We have used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to analyze the patterns of polypeptide expression in isogenic lrp+ and lrp mutant strains in the presence or absence of leucine. The absence of a functional Lrp protein alters the expression of at least 30 polypeptides. The expression of the majority of these polypeptides is not affected by the presence or absence of 10 mM exogenous leucine. Outer membrane porins OmpC and OmpF, glutamine synthetase (GlnA), the small subunit of glutamate synthase (GltD), lysyl-tRNA synthetase form II (LysU), a high-affinity periplasmic binding protein specific for branched-chain amino acids (LivJ), W protein, and the enzymes of the pathway converting threonine to glycine, namely, threonine dehydrogenase (Tdh) and 2-amino-3-ketobutyrate coenzyme A ligase (Kbl), were identified as members of the Lrp regulon by electrophoretic analysis. We have shown that Lrp is a positive regulator of glutamate synthase and glutamine synthetase and that exogenous leucine has little or no effect on the expression of these proteins. In strains carrying a glnL deletion and in strains carrying the glnL2302 allele, which directs the synthesis of a GlnL protein that is constitutively active, expression of glutamine synthetase is no longer regulated by Lrp, demonstrating that the effect of Lrp on glutamine synthetase levels is indirect and requires an intact glnL gene. lrp::Tn10 strains grow poorly when arginine or ornithine is present as the sole nitrogen source in the medium. On the bases of present studies and previous research, we propose that Lrp is involved in the adaptation of E. coli cells to major shifts in environment, such as those which occur when E. coli leaves the intestinal tract of its animal host. Several genes required for amino acid and peptide transport and catabolism are negatively regulated by Lrp, and other genes required for amino acid biosynthesis and ammonia assimilation in a nitrogen-poor environment are positively regulated by Lrp. (+info)
Derepression of certain aromatic amino acid biosynthetic enzymes of Escherichia coli K-12 by growth in Fe3+-deficient medium.
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3-Deoxy-arabino-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate synthase, prephenate dehydratase, tryptophan synthase, and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoylserine synthase enzyme activities are derepressed in wild-type Escherichia coli K-12 cells grown on Fe3+-deficient medium. This derepression is reversed when FeSO4 is added to the growth medium. Addition of shikimic acid to the Fe3+-deficient growth medium caused repression of the first three enzyme activities but not of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoylserine synthase activity. Addition of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid to the Fe3+-deficient growth medium has no effect on any of the above-mentioned enzyme activities. The Fe3+ deficiency-mediated derepression of 3-deoxyarabino-heptulosonic acid 7-phosphate synthase activity is due to an elevation of the tyrosine-sensitive isoenzyme; the phenylalanine-sensitive isoenzyme is not derepressed under these conditions. (+info)
The regulatory link between carbon and nitrogen metabolism in Bacillus subtilis: regulation of the gltAB operon by the catabolite control protein CcpA.
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Bacillus subtilis assimilates ammonium by the concerted action of glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase. The expression of the gltAB operon encoding the latter enzyme is impaired in B. subtilis ccpA mutant strains. CcpA is a pleiotropic transcriptional regulator that is the key factor in the regulation of carbon metabolism. However, in addition to their defect in catabolite repression ccpA mutants are unable to grow on minimal media with glucose and ammonium as the single sources of carbon and nitrogen, respectively. In this work, the expression of the gltAB operon was analysed and its role in growth on minimal sugar/ammonium media was studied. Expression of gltAB requires induction by glucose or other glycolytically catabolized carbon sources. In ccpA mutants, gltAB cannot be induced by glucose due to the low activity of the phosphotransferase sugar transport system in these mutants. A mutation that allowed phosphotransferase system activity in a ccpA background simultaneously restored glucose induction of gltAB and growth on glucose/ammonium medium. Moreover, artificial induction of the gltAB operon in the ccpA mutant allowed the mutant strain to grow on minimal medium with glucose and ammonium. It may be concluded that expression of the gltAB operon depends on the accumulation of glycolytic intermediates which cannot occur in the ccpA mutant. The lack of gltAB induction is the bottleneck that prevents growth of the ccpA mutant on glucose/ammonium media. The control of expression of the gltAB operon by CcpA provides a major regulatory link between carbon and amino acid metabolism. (+info)
Transcriptional remodeling in response to iron deprivation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
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The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae responds to depletion of iron in the environment by activating Aft1p, the major iron-dependent transcription factor, and by transcribing systems involved in the uptake of iron. Here, we have studied the transcriptional response to iron deprivation and have identified new Aft1p target genes. We find that other metabolic pathways are regulated by iron: biotin uptake and biosynthesis, nitrogen assimilation, and purine biosynthesis. Two enzymes active in these pathways, biotin synthase and glutamate synthase, require an iron-sulfur cluster for activity. Iron deprivation activates transcription of the biotin importer and simultaneously represses transcription of the entire biotin biosynthetic pathway. Multiple genes involved in nitrogen assimilation and amino acid metabolism are induced by iron deprivation, whereas glutamate synthase, a key enzyme in nitrogen assimilation, is repressed. A CGG palindrome within the promoter of glutamate synthase confers iron-regulated expression, suggesting control by a transcription factor of the binuclear zinc cluster family. We provide evidence that yeast subjected to iron deprivation undergo a transcriptional remodeling, resulting in a shift from iron-dependent to parallel, but iron-independent, metabolic pathways. (+info)
GltX from Clostridium saccharobutylicum NCP262: glutamate synthase or oxidoreductase?
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A full-length gene encoding a homologue of the small subunit of the glutamate synthase (GOGAT) enzyme was isolated from the anaerobic bacterium, Clostridium saccharobutylicum NCP262, which has been used extensively for the commercial production of solvents. Using a screening system designed to isolate genes involved in electron transport, plasmid pMET13C1 was isolated. Analysis of this plasmid identified a gene (1245 bp) with a predicted approximately 46-kDa product, which was associated with reductive activation of the pro-drug metronidazole. The deduced 414-amino-acid sequence was not typical of electron transport proteins, but rather shared striking homology to the small (beta) subunit of the GOGAT enzyme and other beta subunit-like polypeptides, and was thus designated gltX. Although all the functional domains typical of GOGAT beta subunits were conserved in this GltX protein, certain sequence features were not conserved. Furthermore, it was independently transcribed, did not lie adjacent to a GOGAT large subunit (alpha) domain, and its expression was not regulated by nitrogen conditions. These results provide additional support for current theories on the evolutionary relationships of GOGAT beta subunit domains in bacteria, and suggest that GltX belongs to a more general family of oxidoreductases, which is used in a context other than glutamate biosynthesis to transfer electrons to a currently unknown protein domain. (+info)
Purification and properties of glutamate synthase from Thiobacillus thioparus.
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Glutamate synthase was purified about 250-fold from Thiobacillus thioparus and was characterized. The molecular weight was estimated as 280,000 g/mol. The enzyme showed absorption maxima at 280, 380, and 450 nm and was inhibited by Atebrin, suggesting that T. thioparus glutamate synthase is a flavoprotein. The enzyme activity was also inhibited by iron chelators and thiolbinding agents. The enzyme was specific for reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and alpha-ketoglutarate, but L-glutamine was partially replaced by ammonia as the amino donor. The Km values of glutamate synthase for NADPH, alpha-ketoglutarate, and glutamine were 3.0 muM, 50 muM, and 1.1 mM, respectively. The enzyme had a pH optimum between 7.3 and 7.8. Glutamate synthase from T. thioparus was relatively insensitive to feedback inhibition by single amino acids but was sensitive to the combined effects of several amino acids. Enzymes involved in glutamate synthesis in T. thioparus were studied. Glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase, as well as two glutamate dehydrogenases (NADH and NADPH dependent), were present in this organism. This levels of glutamate synthase and glutamate dehydrogenase were similar in T. thioparus grown on 0.7 or 7.0 mM ammonium sulfate. The sum of the activities of both glutamate dehydrogenases was only 1/25 of that of glutamate synthase under the assay conditions. It was concluded that the glutamine pathway is important for ammonia assimilation in this autotrophic bacterium. (+info)