The Bacillus subtilis YufLM two-component system regulates the expression of the malate transporters MaeN (YufR) and YflS, and is essential for utilization of malate in minimal medium

Microbiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 149 (9) ◽  
pp. 2317-2329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kousei Tanaka ◽  
Kazuo Kobayashi ◽  
Naotake Ogasawara

The Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis has a complete set of enzymes for the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and can grow aerobically using most of the TCA cycle intermediates (malate, fumarate, succinate and citrate) as a sole carbon source. The B. subtilis genome sequence contains three paralogous two-component regulatory systems, CitST, DctSR and YufLM. CitST and DctSR activate the expression of a transporter of the Mg2+–citrate complex (CitM) and a fumarate and succinate transporter (DctP), respectively. These findings prompted an investigation of whether the YufL sensor and its cognate regulator, YufM, play a role in malate uptake. This paper reports that the YufM regulator shows in vitro binding to the promoter region of two malate transporter genes, maeN and yflS, and is responsible for inducing their expression in vivo. It was also found that inactivation of the yufM or maeN genes resulted in bacteria that could not grow in a minimal salts medium containing malate as a sole carbon source, indicating that the induction of the MaeN transporter by the YufM regulator is essential for the utilization of malate as a carbon source. Inactivation of the yufL gene resulted in the constitutive expression of MaeN. This expression was suppressed by reintroduction of the kinase domain of YufL, indicating that the YufL sensor is required for proper signal detection and signalling specificity. The authors propose that a phosphatase activity of YufL plays an important role in the YufLM two-component regulatory system. The studies reported here have revealed that members of a set of paralogous two-component regulatory systems in B. subtilis, CitST, DctSR and YufLM, are involved in a related function – uptake (and metabolism) of the TCA cycle intermediates – but with distinct substrate specificities.

Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Minami Ogawa ◽  
Jaime Moreno-García ◽  
Lucy C. M. Joseph ◽  
Juan C. Mauricio ◽  
Juan Moreno ◽  
...  

Gluconic acid consumption under controlled conditions by a Saccharomyces cerevisiae flor yeast was studied in artificial media. Gluconic acid was the sole carbon source and the compounds derived from this metabolism were tracked by endo-metabolomic analysis using a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MSD) coupled methodology. After 6 days, about 30% of gluconic acid (1.5 g/L) had been consumed and 34 endo-metabolites were identified. Metabolomic pathway analysis showed the TCA cycle, glyoxylate-dicarboxylate, glycine-serine-threonine, and glycerolipid metabolic pathway were significantly affected. These results contribute to the knowledge of intracellular metabolomic fluctuations in flor yeasts during gluconic acid uptake, opening possibilities for future experiments to improve their applications to control gluconic acid contents during the production of fermented beverages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Anil Dubey ◽  
Vikas Jain

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium smegmatis and several other mycobacteria are able to utilize methanol as the sole source of carbon and energy. We recently showed that N,N-dimethyl-p-nitrosoaniline (NDMA)-dependent methanol dehydrogenase (Mno) is essential for the growth of M. smegmatis on methanol. Although Mno from this bacterium shares high homology with other known methanol dehydrogenases, methanol metabolism in M. smegmatis differs significantly from that of other described methylotrophs. In this study, we dissect the regulatory mechanism involved in the methylotrophic metabolism in M. smegmatis. We identify a two-component system (TCS), mnoSR, that is involved in the regulation of mno expression. We show that the MnoSR TCS is comprised of a sensor kinase (MnoS) and a response regulator (MnoR). Our results demonstrate that MnoS undergoes autophosphorylation and is able to transfer its phosphate to MnoR by means of phosphotransferase activity. Furthermore, MnoR shows specific binding to the putative mno promoter region in vitro, thus suggesting its role in the regulation of mno expression. Additionally, we find that the MnoSR system is involved in the regulation of MSMEG_6239, which codes for a putative 1,3-propanediol dehydrogenase. We further show that M. smegmatis lacking mnoSR is unable to utilize methanol and 1,3-propanediol as the sole carbon source, which confirms the role of MnoSR in the regulation of alcohol metabolism. Our data, thus, suggest that the regulation of mno expression in M. smegmatis provides new insight into the regulation of methanol metabolism, which furthers our understanding of methylotrophy in mycobacteria. IMPORTANCE Methylotrophic metabolism has gained huge attention considering its broad application in ecology, agriculture, industries, and human health. The genus Mycobacterium comprises both pathogenic and nonpathogenic species. Several members of this genus are known to utilize methanol as the sole carbon source for growth. Although various pathways underlying methanol utilization have been established, the regulation of methylotrophic metabolism is not well studied. In the present work, we explore the regulation of methanol metabolism in M. smegmatis and discover a dedicated two-component system (TCS), MnoSR, that is involved in its regulation. We show that the loss of MnoSR renders the bacterium incapable of utilizing methanol and 1,3-propanediol as the sole carbon sources. Additionally, we establish that MnoS acts as the common sensor for the alcohols in M. smegmatis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan-Chi Chang ◽  
Jisun So ◽  
Stefania Lamon-Fava

AbstractThe omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) affect cell function and metabolism, but the differential effects of EPA and DHA are not known. In a randomized, controlled, double-blind, crossover study, we assessed the effects of 10-week supplementation with EPA-only and DHA-only (3 g/d), relative to a 4-week lead-in phase of high oleic acid sunflower oil (3 g/day, defined as baseline), on fasting serum metabolites in 21 subjects (9 men and 12 post-menopausal women) with chronic inflammation and some characteristics of metabolic syndrome. Relative to baseline, EPA significantly lowered the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates fumarate and α-ketoglutarate and increased glucuronate, UDP-glucuronate, and non-esterified DHA. DHA significantly lowered the TCA cycle intermediates pyruvate, citrate, isocitrate, fumarate, α-ketoglutarate, and malate, and increased succinate and glucuronate. Pathway analysis showed that both EPA and DHA significantly affected the TCA cycle, the interconversion of pentose and glucuronate, and alanine, and aspartate and glutamate pathways (FDR < 0.05) and that DHA had a significantly greater effect on the TCA cycle than EPA. Our results indicate that EPA and DHA exhibit both common and differential effects on cell metabolism in subjects with chronic inflammation and some key aspects of metabolic syndrome.


Microbiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 149 (9) ◽  
pp. 2331-2343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Doan ◽  
Pascale Servant ◽  
Shigeo Tojo ◽  
Hirotake Yamaguchi ◽  
Guillaume Lerondel ◽  
...  

A transcriptome comparison of a wild-type Bacillus subtilis strain growing under glycolytic or gluconeogenic conditions was performed. In particular, it revealed that the ywkA gene, one of the four paralogues putatively encoding a malic enzyme, was more transcribed during gluconeogenesis. Using a lacZ reporter fusion to the ywkA promoter, it was shown that ywkA was specifically induced by external malate and not subject to glucose catabolite repression. Northern analysis confirmed this expression pattern and demonstrated that ywkA is cotranscribed with the downstream ywkB gene. The ywkA gene product was purified and biochemical studies demonstrated its malic enzyme activity, which was 10-fold higher with NAD than with NADP (k cat/K m 102 and 10 s−1 mM−1, respectively). However, physiological tests with single and multiple mutant strains affected in ywkA and/or in ywkA paralogues showed that ywkA does not contribute to efficient utilization of malate for growth. Transposon mutagenesis allowed the identification of the uncharacterized YufL/YufM two-component system as being responsible for the control of ywkA expression. Genetic analysis and in vitro studies with purified YufM protein showed that YufM binds just upstream of ywkA promoter and activates ywkA transcription in response to the presence of malate in the extracellular medium, transmitted by YufL. ywkA and yufL/yufM could thus be renamed maeA for malic enzyme and malK/malR for malate kinase sensor/malate response regulator, respectively.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1121
Author(s):  
S B Ellis ◽  
P F Brust ◽  
P J Koutz ◽  
A F Waters ◽  
M M Harpold ◽  
...  

The oxidation of methanol follows a well-defined pathway and is similar for several methylotrophic yeasts. The use of methanol as the sole carbon source for the growth of Pichia pastoris stimulates the expression of a family of genes. Three methanol-responsive genes have been isolated; cDNA copies have been made from mRNAs of these genes, and the protein products from in vitro translations have been examined. The identification of alcohol oxidase as one of the cloned, methanol-regulated genes has been made by enzymatic, immunological, and sequence analyses. Methanol-regulated expression of each of these three isolated genes can be demonstrated to occur at the level of transcription. Finally, DNA subfragments of two of the methanol-responsive genomic clones from P. pastoris have been isolated and tentatively identified as containing the control regions involved in methanol regulation.


2008 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 547-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mourtzakis ◽  
T. E. Graham ◽  
J. González-Alonso ◽  
B. Saltin

Muscle glutamate is central to reactions producing 2-oxoglutarate, a tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediate that essentially expands the TCA cycle intermediate pool during exercise. Paradoxically, muscle glutamate drops ∼40–80% with the onset of exercise and 2-oxoglutarate declines in early exercise. To investigate the physiological relationship between glutamate, oxidative metabolism, and TCA cycle intermediates (i.e., fumarate, malate, 2-oxoglutarate), healthy subjects trained (T) the quadriceps of one thigh on the single-legged knee extensor ergometer (1 h/day at 70% maximum workload for 5 days/wk), while their contralateral quadriceps remained untrained (UT). After 5 wk of training, peak oxygen consumption (V̇o2peak) in the T thigh was greater than that in the UT thigh ( P < 0.05); V̇o2peak was not different between the T and UT thighs with glutamate infusion. Peak exercise under control conditions revealed a greater glutamate uptake in the T thigh compared with rest (7.3 ± 3.7 vs. 1.0 ± 0.1 μmol·min−1·kg wet wt−1, P < 0.05) without increase in TCA cycle intermediates. In the UT thigh, peak exercise (vs. rest) induced an increase in fumarate (0.33 ± 0.07 vs. 0.02 ± 0.01 mmol/kg dry wt (dw), P < 0.05) and malate (2.2 ± 0.4 vs. 0.5 ± 0.03 mmol/kg dw, P < 0.05) and a decrease in 2-oxoglutarate (12.2 ± 1.6 vs. 32.4 ± 6.8 μmol/kg dw, P < 0.05). Overall, glutamate infusion increased arterial glutamate ( P < 0.05) and maintained this increase. Glutamate infusion coincided with elevated fumarate and malate ( P < 0.05) and decreased 2-oxoglutarate ( P < 0.05) at peak exercise relative to rest in the T thigh; there were no further changes in the UT thigh. Although glutamate may have a role in the expansion of the TCA cycle, glutamate and TCA cycle intermediates do not directly affect V̇o2peak in either trained or untrained muscle.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihaela Carmen Eremia ◽  
Irina Lupescu ◽  
Mariana Vladu ◽  
Maria Petrescu ◽  
Gabriela Savoiu ◽  
...  

Abstract Polyhydroxyalcanoates (PHAs) are specifically produced by a wide variety of bacteria, as an intracellular energy reserve in the form of homo- and copolymers of [R]-β-hydroxyalkanoic acids, depending on the C source used for microorganism growth, when the cells are grown under stressing conditions. In this paper we present microbiological accumulation of poly-3-hydroxyoctanoate (PHO) by using a consortium of bacterial strains, Pseudomonas putida and Bacillus subtilis, in a rate of 3:1, grown on a fermentation medium based on sodium octanoate as the sole carbon source. The experiments performed in the above mentioned conditions led to the following results: from 18.70 g sodium octanoate (7.72 g/L in the fermentation medium) used up during the bioprocess, 3.93-3.96 g/L dry bacterial biomass and 1.834 - 1.884 g/L PHA, containing 85.83 - 86.8% PHO, were obtained.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. dmm047134
Author(s):  
Leonie Drews ◽  
Marcel Zimmermann ◽  
Philipp Westhoff ◽  
Dominik Brilhaus ◽  
Rebecca E. Poss ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAstrocyte dysfunction is a primary factor in hepatic encephalopathy (HE) impairing neuronal activity under hyperammonemia. In particular, the early events causing ammonia-induced toxicity to astrocytes are not well understood. Using established cellular HE models, we show that mitochondria rapidly undergo fragmentation in a reversible manner upon hyperammonemia. Further, in our analyses, within a timescale of minutes, mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis were hampered, which occurred in a pH-independent manner. Using metabolomics, an accumulation of glucose and numerous amino acids, including branched chain amino acids, was observed. Metabolomic tracking of 15N-labeled ammonia showed rapid incorporation of 15N into glutamate and glutamate-derived amino acids. Downregulating human GLUD2 [encoding mitochondrial glutamate dehydrogenase 2 (GDH2)], inhibiting GDH2 activity by SIRT4 overexpression, and supplementing cells with glutamate or glutamine alleviated ammonia-induced inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. Metabolomic tracking of 13C-glutamine showed that hyperammonemia can inhibit anaplerosis of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates. Contrary to its classical anaplerotic role, we show that, under hyperammonemia, GDH2 catalyzes the removal of ammonia by reductive amination of α-ketoglutarate, which efficiently and rapidly inhibits the TCA cycle. Overall, we propose a critical GDH2-dependent mechanism in HE models that helps to remove ammonia, but also impairs energy metabolism in mitochondria rapidly.


2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (21) ◽  
pp. 6584-6591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Brzostek ◽  
Jakub Pawelczyk ◽  
Anna Rumijowska-Galewicz ◽  
Bozena Dziadek ◽  
Jaroslaw Dziadek

ABSTRACT It is expected that the obligatory human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis must adapt metabolically to the various nutrients available during its cycle of infection, persistence, and reactivation. Cholesterol, which is an important part of the mammalian cytoplasmic membrane, is a potential energy source. Here, we show that M. tuberculosis grown in medium containing a carbon source other than cholesterol is able to accumulate cholesterol in the free-lipid zone of its cell wall. This cholesterol accumulation decreases the permeability of the cell wall for the primary antituberculosis drug, rifampin, and partially masks the mycobacterial surface antigens. Furthermore, M. tuberculosis was able to grow on mineral medium supplemented with cholesterol as the sole carbon source. Targeted disruption of the Rv3537 (kstD) gene inhibited growth due to inactivation of the cholesterol degradation pathway, as evidenced by accumulation of the intermediate, 9-hydroxy-4-androstene-3,17-dione. Our findings that M. tuberculosis is able to accumulate cholesterol in the presence of alternative nutrients and use it when cholesterol is the sole carbon source in vitro may facilitate future studies into the pathophysiology of this important deadly pathogen.


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