Control of the production of exo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase by Bacillus subtilis B. Derepression during gluconeogenesis and initial stages of sporulation

1. The control of exo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (EC 3.2.1.30) production by Bacillus subtilis B growing on a chemically defined medium was studied. 2. The enzyme was repressed during exponential growth by those carbon sources that enter the glycolytic pathway above the level of phosphoenolpyruvate. When exponential growth ceased as a result of low concentrations of the nitrogen, carbon or metal ion components of the medium, the enzyme was formed and its amount could be increased by the addition of cell-wall fragments as inducer. 3. The enzyme was de-repressed and could be induced during exponential growth on non-glycolytic compounds metabolized directly into pyruvate, acetyl-CoA or tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates. 4. The major difference in the metabolism of the organism utilizing these two groups of compound was the existence of high activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase required for gluconeogenesis. 5. It is concluded that the de-repression of glucosaminidase occurs when the only principal change detected in the intermediary metabolism of the organism was the presence of high activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. 6. When the organism was grown on media containing repressing compounds, the enzyme was only de-repressed on entry of the cells into the initial stages of sporulation, where phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity, even in the presence of excess of glucose, increased in parallel with glucosaminidase, neutral proteinase and alkaline phosphatase activities. 7. These results suggest a strong link, at the level of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, between the control of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and the control of the de-repression of glucosaminidase and sporulation.