scholarly journals Biochemical and Mutational Analyses of AcuA, the Acetyltransferase Enzyme That Controls the Activity of the Acetyl Coenzyme A Synthetase (AcsA) in Bacillus subtilis

2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (14) ◽  
pp. 5132-5136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Gardner ◽  
Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena

ABSTRACT The acuABC genes of Bacillus subtilis comprise a putative posttranslational modification system. The AcuA protein is a member of the Gcn5-related N-acetyltransferase (GNAT) superfamily, the AcuC protein is a class I histone deacetylase, and the role of the AcuB protein is not known. AcuA controls the activity of acetyl coenzyme A synthetase (AcsA; EC 6.2.1.1) in this bacterium by acetylating residue Lys549. Here we report the kinetic analysis of wild-type and variant AcuA proteins. We contrived a genetic scheme for the identification of AcuA residues critical for activity. Changes at residues H177 and G187 completely inactivated AcuA and led to its rapid turnover. Changes at residues R42 and T169 were less severe. In vitro assay conditions were optimized, and an effective means of inactivating the enzyme was found. The basic kinetic parameters of wild-type and variant AcuA proteins were obtained and compared to those of eukaryotic GNATs. Insights into how the isolated mutations may exert their deleterious effect were investigated by using the crystal structure of an AcuA homolog.

2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (6) ◽  
pp. 1749-1755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Gardner ◽  
Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena

ABSTRACT This report provides in vivo evidence for the posttranslational control of the acetyl coenzyme A (Ac-CoA) synthetase (AcsA) enzyme of Bacillus subtilis by the acuA and acuC gene products. In addition, both in vivo and in vitro data presented support the conclusion that the yhdZ gene of B. subtilis encodes a NAD+-dependent protein deacetylase homologous to the yeast Sir2 protein (also known as sirtuin). On the basis of this new information, a change in gene nomenclature, from yhdZ to srtN (for sirtuin), is proposed to reflect the activity associated with the YdhZ protein. In vivo control of B. subtilis AcsA function required the combined activities of AcuC and SrtN. Inactivation of acuC or srtN resulted in slower growth and cell yield under low-acetate conditions than those of the wild-type strain, and the acuC srtN strain grew under low-acetate conditions as poorly as the acsA strain. Our interpretation of the latter result was that both deacetylases (AcuC and SrtN) are needed to maintain AcsA as active (i.e., deacetylated) so the cell can grow with low concentrations of acetate. Growth of an acuA acuC srtN strain on acetate was improved over that of the acuA + acuC srtN strain, indicating that the AcuA acetyltransferase enzyme modifies (i.e., inactivates) AcsA in vivo, a result consistent with previously reported in vitro evidence that AcsA is a substrate of AcuA.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (15) ◽  
pp. 5460-5468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Gardner ◽  
Frank J. Grundy ◽  
Tina M. Henkin ◽  
Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena

ABSTRACT Posttranslational modification is an efficient mechanism for controlling the activity of structural proteins, gene expression regulators, and enzymes in response to rapidly changing physiological conditions. Here we report in vitro and in vivo evidence that the acuABC operon of the gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis encodes a protein acetyltransferase (AcuA) and a protein deacetylase (AcuC), which may control the activity of acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) synthetase (AMP-forming, AcsA) in this bacterium. Results from in vitro experiments using purified proteins show that AcsA is a substrate for the acetyl-CoA-dependent AcuA acetyltransferase. Mass spectrometry analysis of a tryptic digest of acetylated AcsA (AcsAAc) identified residue Lys549 as the sole modification site in the protein. Unlike sirtuins, the AcuC protein did not require NAD+ as cosubstrate to deacetylate AcsAAc. The function of the putative AcuB protein remains unknown.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu-Ya Wu ◽  
I-Chen Hu ◽  
Yi-Chen Yang ◽  
Wei-Cheng Ding ◽  
Chih-Hsuan Lai ◽  
...  

Metabolism ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Michno ◽  
Anna Skibowska ◽  
Anna Raszeja-Specht ◽  
Justyna Ćwikowska ◽  
Andrzej Szutowicz

2007 ◽  
Vol 189 (22) ◽  
pp. 8250-8256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keiichi Uchino ◽  
Terumi Saito ◽  
Birgit Gebauer ◽  
Dieter Jendrossek

ABSTRACTPoly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) granules isolated in native form (nPHB granules) fromRalstonia eutrophacatalyzed formation of PHB from14C-labeled acetyl coenzyme A (CoA) in the presence of NADPH and concomitantly released CoA, revealing that PHB biosynthetic proteins (acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase, acetoacetyl-CoA reductase, and PHB synthase) are present and active in isolated nPHB granules in vitro. nPHB granules also catalyzed thiolytic cleavage of PHB in the presence of added CoA, resulting in synthesis of 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA (3HB-CoA) from PHB. Synthesis of 3HB-CoA was also shown by incubation of artificial (protein-free) PHB with CoA and PhaZa1, confirming that PhaZa1 is a PHB depolymerase catalyzing the thiolysis reaction. Acetyl-CoA was the major product detectable after incubation of nPHB granules in the presence of NAD+, indicating that downstream mobilizing enzyme activities were also present and active in isolated nPHB granules. We propose that intracellular concentrations of key metabolites (CoA, acetyl-CoA, 3HB-CoA, NAD+/NADH) determine whether a cell accumulates or degrades PHB. Since the degradation product of PHB is 3HB-CoA, the cells do not waste energy by synthesis and degradation of PHB. Thus, our results explain the frequent finding of simultaneous synthesis and breakdown of PHB.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (18) ◽  
pp. 6715-6715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Gardner ◽  
Frank J. Grundy ◽  
Tina M. Henkin ◽  
Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena

1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (4) ◽  
pp. 1088-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Castor Menendez ◽  
Zsuzsa Bauer ◽  
Harald Huber ◽  
Nasser Gad’on ◽  
Karl-Otto Stetter ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The pathway of autotrophic CO2 fixation was studied in the phototrophic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus and in the aerobic thermoacidophilic archaeon Metallosphaera sedula. In both organisms, none of the key enzymes of the reductive pentose phosphate cycle, the reductive citric acid cycle, and the reductive acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) pathway were detectable. However, cells contained the biotin-dependent acetyl-CoA carboxylase and propionyl-CoA carboxylase as well as phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. The specific enzyme activities of the carboxylases were high enough to explain the autotrophic growth rate via the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle. Extracts catalyzed the CO2-, MgATP-, and NADPH-dependent conversion of acetyl-CoA to 3-hydroxypropionate via malonyl-CoA and the conversion of this intermediate to succinate via propionyl-CoA. The labelled intermediates were detected in vitro with either 14CO2 or [14C]acetyl-CoA as precursor. These reactions are part of the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle, the autotrophic pathway proposed forC. aurantiacus. The investigation was extended to the autotrophic archaea Sulfolobus metallicus andAcidianus infernus, which showed acetyl-CoA and propionyl-CoA carboxylase activities in extracts of autotrophically grown cells. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity is unexpected in archaea since they do not contain fatty acids in their membranes. These aerobic archaea, as well as C. aurantiacus, were screened for biotin-containing proteins by the avidin-peroxidase test. They contained large amounts of a small biotin-carrying protein, which is most likely part of the acetyl-CoA and propionyl-CoA carboxylases. Other archaea reported to use one of the other known autotrophic pathways lacked such small biotin-containing proteins. These findings suggest that the aerobic autotrophic archaea M. sedula,S. metallicus, and A. infernus use a yet-to-be-defined 3-hydroxypropionate cycle for their autotrophic growth. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase and propionyl-CoA carboxylase are proposed to be the main CO2 fixation enzymes, and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase may have an anaplerotic function. The results also provide further support for the occurrence of the 3-hydroxypropionate cycle in C. aurantiacus.


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