scholarly journals The N-Acetyl-d-Glucosamine Kinase of Escherichia coli and Its Role in Murein Recycling

2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (21) ◽  
pp. 7273-7279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Uehara ◽  
James T. Park

ABSTRACT N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine (GlcNAc) is a major component of bacterial cell wall murein and the lipopolysaccharide of the outer membrane. During growth, over 60% of the murein of the side wall is degraded, and the major products, GlcNAc-anhydro-N-acetylmuramyl peptides, are efficiently imported into the cytoplasm and cleaved to release GlcNAc, anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid, murein tripeptide (l-Ala-d-Glu-meso-diaminopimelic acid), and d-alanine. Like murein tripeptide, GlcNAc is readily recycled, and this process was thought to involve phosphorylation, since GlcNAc-6-phosphate (GlcNAc-6-P) is efficiently used to synthesize murein or lipopolysaccharide or can be metabolized by glycolysis. Since the gene for GlcNAc kinase had not been identified, in this work we purified GlcNAc kinase (NagK) from Escherichia coli cell extracts and identified the gene by determining the N-terminal sequence of the purified kinase. A nagK deletion mutant lacked phosphorylated GlcNAc in its cytoplasm, and the cell extract of the mutant did not phosphorylate GlcNAc, indicating that NagK is the only GlcNAc kinase expressed in E. coli. Unexpectedly, GlcNAc did not accumulate in a nagK nagEBACD mutant, though both GlcNAc and GlcNAc-6-P accumulate in the nagEBACD mutant, suggesting the existence of an alternative pathway (presumably repressed by GlcNAc-6-P) that reutilizes GlcNAc without the involvement of NagK.

2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (11) ◽  
pp. 3643-3649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Uehara ◽  
Kyoko Suefuji ◽  
Noelia Valbuena ◽  
Brian Meehan ◽  
Michael Donegan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli breaks down over 60% of the murein of its side wall and reuses the component amino acids to synthesize about 25% of the cell wall for the next generation. The amino sugars of the murein are also efficiently recycled. Here we show that the 1,6-anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid (anhMurNAc) is returned to the biosynthetic pathway by conversion to N-acetylglucosamine-phosphate (GlcNAc-P). The sugar is first phosphorylated by anhydro- N -acetylmuramic acid kinase (AnmK), yielding MurNAc-P, and this is followed by action of an etherase which cleaves the bond between d-lactic acid and the N-acetylglucosamine moiety of MurNAc-P, yielding GlcNAc-P. The kinase gene has been identified by a reverse genetics method. The enzyme was overexpressed, purified, and characterized. The cell extract of an anmK deletion mutant totally lacked activity on anhMurNAc. Surprisingly, in the anmK mutant, anhMurNAc did not accumulate in the cytoplasm but instead was found in the medium, indicating that there was rapid efflux of free anhMurNAc.


2004 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 3467-3474 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B. McKinlay ◽  
J. Gregory Zeikus

ABSTRACT Both microbial iron reduction and microbial reduction of anodes in fuel cells can occur by way of soluble electron mediators. To test whether neutral red (NR) mediates iron reduction, as it does anode reduction, by Escherichia coli, ferrous iron levels were monitored in anaerobic cultures grown with amorphous iron oxide. Ferrous iron levels were 19.4 times higher in cultures fermenting pyruvate in the presence of NR than in the absence of NR. NR did not stimulate iron reduction in cultures respiring with nitrate. To explore the mechanism of NR-mediated iron reduction, cell extracts of E. coli were used. Cell extract-NADH-NR mixtures had an enzymatic iron reduction rate almost 15-fold higher than the chemical NR-mediated iron reduction rate observed in controls with no cell extract. Hydrogen was consumed during stationary phase (in which iron reduction was detectable) especially in cultures containing both NR and iron oxide. An E. coli hypE mutant, with no hydrogenase activity, was also impaired in NR-mediated iron reduction activity. NR-mediated iron reduction rates by cell extracts were 1.5 to 2 times higher with hydrogen or formate as the electron source than with NADH. Our findings suggest that hydrogenase donates electrons to NR for extracellular iron reduction. This process appears to be analogous to those of iron reduction by bacteria that use soluble electron mediators (e.g., humic acids and 2,6-anthraquinone disulfonate) and of anode reduction by bacteria using soluble mediators (e.g., NR and thionin) in microbial fuel cells.


2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (15) ◽  
pp. 5238-5246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongfei Han ◽  
Ji-Young Ryu ◽  
Robert A. Kanaly ◽  
Hor-Gil Hur

ABSTRACTA plasmid, pTA163, inEscherichia colicontained an approximately 34-kb gene fragment fromPseudomonas putidaJYR-1 that included the genes responsible for the metabolism oftrans-anethole to protocatechuic acid. Three Tn5-disrupted open reading frame 10 (ORF 10) mutants of plasmid pTA163 lost their abilities to catalyzetrans-anethole. Heterologously expressed ORF 10 (1,047 nucleotides [nt]) under a T7 promoter inE. colicatalyzed oxidative cleavage of a propenyl group oftrans-anethole to an aldehyde group, resulting in the production ofpara-anisaldehyde, and this gene was designatedtao(trans-anetholeoxygenase). The deduced amino acid sequence of TAO had the highest identity (34%) to a hypothetical protein ofAgrobacterium vitisS4 and likely contained a flavin-binding site. Preferred incorporation of an oxygen molecule from water intop-anisaldehyde using18O-labeling experiments indicated stereo preference of TAO for hydrolysis of the epoxide group. Interestingly, unlike the narrow substrate range of isoeugenol monooxygenase fromPseudomonas putidaIE27 andPseudomonas nitroreducensJin1, TAO fromP. putidaJYR-1 catalyzed isoeugenol,O-methyl isoeugenol, and isosafrole, all of which contain the 2-propenyl functional group on the aromatic ring structure. Addition of NAD(P)H to the ultrafiltered cell extracts ofE. coli(pTA163) increased the activity of TAO. Due to the relaxed substrate range of TAO, it may be utilized for the production of various fragrance compounds from plant phenylpropanoids in the future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 446 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Tryggvesson ◽  
Frida M. Ståhlberg ◽  
Axel Mogk ◽  
Kornelius Zeth ◽  
Adrian K. Clarke

The Clp protease is conserved among eubacteria and most eukaryotes, and uses ATP to drive protein substrate unfolding and translocation into a chamber of sequestered proteolytic active sites. In plant chloroplasts and cyanobacteria, the essential constitutive Clp protease consists of the Hsp100/ClpC chaperone partnering a proteolytic core of catalytic ClpP and noncatalytic ClpR subunits. In the present study, we have examined putative determinants conferring the highly specific association between ClpC and the ClpP3/R core from the model cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus. Two conserved sequences in the N-terminus of ClpR (tyrosine and proline motifs) and one in the N-terminus of ClpP3 (MPIG motif) were identified as being crucial for the ClpC–ClpP3/R association. These N-terminal domains also influence the stability of the ClpP3/R core complex itself. A unique C-terminal sequence was also found in plant and cyanobacterial ClpC orthologues just downstream of the P-loop region previously shown in Escherichia coli to be important for Hsp100 association to ClpP. This R motif in Synechococcus ClpC confers specificity for the ClpP3/R core and prevents association with E. coli ClpP; its removal from ClpC reverses this core specificity.


1961 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1551-1558 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Finlayson ◽  
F. J. Simpson

When 2,6-diaminopimelicacid-1,7-C14was added to growing cultures of Bacillus megaterium, Staphlococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, 8–9% of added carbon-14 appeared in the cellular lysine. Similar experiments with Proteus vulgaris, Streptomyces griseus, Aspergillus flavus, and Lactobacillus arabinosus resulted in less than 0.3% of the added carbon-14 being incorporated into the cellular lysine. Leuconostoc mesenteroides converted 0.6% of the added DAP-1,7-C14to lysine-1-C14.Over 90% of the carbon-14 in cell lysine from B. megaterium and L. mesenteroides was found in the carboxyl carbon. This was interpreted as indicating a direct decarboxylation of DAP-1,7-C14to lysine-1-C14. About 70% of the carbon-14 in the lysine from cells of S. aureus and E. coli was found in the carboxyl carbon, thus suggesting that some lysine comes from sources other than 2,6-diaminopimelic acid.Those organisms that actively decarboxylated DAP-1,7-C14to form lysine-C14also synthesized DAP and excreted it into the culture medium during growth.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (20) ◽  
pp. 6845-6854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koichi Mori ◽  
Reiko Bando ◽  
Naoki Hieda ◽  
Tetsuo Toraya

ABSTRACT The holoenzyme of adenosylcobalamin-dependent ethanolamine ammonia lyase undergoes suicidal inactivation during catalysis as well as inactivation in the absence of substrate. The inactivation involves the irreversible cleavage of the Co-C bond of the coenzyme. We found that the inactivated holoenzyme undergoes rapid and continuous reactivation in the presence of ATP, Mg2+, and free adenosylcobalamin in permeabilized cells (in situ), homogenate, and cell extracts of Escherichia coli. The reactivation was observed in the permeabilized E. coli cells carrying a plasmid containing the E. coli eut operon as well. From coexpression experiments, it was demonstrated that the eutA gene, adjacent to the 5′ end of ethanolamine ammonia lyase genes (eutBC), is essential for reactivation. It encodes a polypeptide consisting of 467 amino acid residues with predicted molecular weight of 49,599. No evidence was obtained that shows the presence of the auxiliary protein(s) potentiating the reactivation or associating with EutA. It was demonstrated with purified recombinant EutA that both the suicidally inactivated and O2-inactivated holoethanolamine ammonia lyase underwent rapid reactivation in vitro by EutA in the presence of adenosylcobalamin, ATP, and Mg2+. The inactive enzyme-cyanocobalamin complex was also activated in situ and in vitro by EutA under the same conditions. Thus, it was concluded that EutA is the only component of the reactivating factor for ethanolamine ammonia lyase and that reactivation and activation occur through the exchange of modified coenzyme for free intact adenosylcobalamin.


2002 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 2708-2714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hank A. Lockman ◽  
Rebecca A. Gillespie ◽  
Beth D. Baker ◽  
Elizabeth Shakhnovich

ABSTRACT Cell extracts from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis induced multinucleation in HEp-2 cells in a manner similar to the effect caused by Escherichia coli cytotoxic necrotizing factor (CNF). The activity was not dependent on the Yersinia 70-kb virulence plasmid, and the activity was not inhibited by antibodies capable of neutralizing E. coli CNF type 1. The nucleotide sequence of the Yersinia cnf gene was 65.1% identical to the E. coli cnf gene.


1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 650-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan I. Speirs ◽  
Mumtaz Akhtar

Sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were developed to detect Escherichia coli cytotoxins. Wells were coated with monoclonal antibodies from hybridomas 13C4 and (or) 11E10, and biotin conjugates of these antibodies were used for detecting verotoxin 1 and Shiga-like toxin II, respectively. Sensitivities were about 100 and 200 cytotoxic doses, respectively. Verotoxin 2 was detected by ELISA with monoclonal antibody 11E10, but at a sensitivity of only about 4000 cytotoxic doses. ELISA results of polymyxin-treated cell extracts from cultures of 67 E. coli strains were in agreement with Vero cell assay as regards the presence and type of toxin. Key words: Escherichia coli, cytotoxin, ELISA.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (11) ◽  
pp. 2906-2913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keietsu Abe ◽  
Fumito Ohnishi ◽  
Kyoko Yagi ◽  
Tasuku Nakajima ◽  
Takeshi Higuchi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Tetragenococcus halophila D10 catalyzes the decarboxylation of l-aspartate with nearly stoichiometric release of l-alanine and CO2. This trait is encoded on a 25-kb plasmid, pD1. We found in this plasmid a putative asp operon consisting of two genes, which we designated aspD and aspT, encoding an l-aspartate-β-decarboxylase (AspD) and an aspartate-alanine antiporter (AspT), respectively, and determined the nucleotide sequences. The sequence analysis revealed that the genes of the asp operon in pD1 were in the following order: promoter → aspD → aspT. The deduced amino acid sequence of AspD showed similarity to the sequences of two known l-aspartate-β-decarboxylases from Pseudomonas dacunhae and Alcaligenes faecalis. Hydropathy analyses suggested that the aspT gene product encodes a hydrophobic protein with multiple membrane-spanning regions. The operon was subcloned into the Escherichia coli expression vector pTrc99A, and the two genes were cotranscribed in the resulting plasmid, pTrcAsp. Expression of the asp operon in E. coli coincided with appearance of the capacity to catalyze the decarboxylation of aspartate to alanine. Histidine-tagged AspD (AspDHis) was also expressed in E. coli and purified from cell extracts. The purified AspDHis clearly exhibited activity of l-aspartate-β-decarboxylase. Recombinant AspT was solubilized from E. coli membranes and reconstituted in proteoliposomes. The reconstituted AspT catalyzed self-exchange of aspartate and electrogenic heterologous exchange of aspartate with alanine. Thus, the asp operon confers a proton motive metabolic cycle consisting of the electrogenic aspartate-alanine antiporter and the aspartate decarboxylase, which keeps intracellular levels of alanine, the countersubstrate for aspartate, high.


2006 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1240-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. CHILDS ◽  
C. A. SIMPSON ◽  
W. WARREN-SERNA ◽  
G. BELLENGER ◽  
B. CENTRELLA ◽  
...  

This study was conducted to identify the origin of Escherichia coli O157:H7 contamination on steer hides at the time of harvest. Samples were collected from the feedlot, transport trailers, and packing plant holding pens and from the colons and hides of feedlot steers. A total of 50 hide samples were positive for E. coli O157:H7 in two geographical locations: the Midwest (25 positive hides) and Southwest (25 positive hides). Hide samples were screened, and the presence of E. coli O157: H7 was confirmed. E. coli O157:H7 isolates were fingerprinted by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and subjected to multiplex PCR procedures for amplification of E. coli O157:H7 genes stx1, stx2, eaeA, fliC, rfbEO157, and hlyA. Feedlot water trough, pen floor, feed bunk, loading chute, truck trailer side wall and floor, packing plant holding pen floor and side rail, and packing plant cattle drinking water samples were positive for E. coli O157:H7. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis banding patterns were analyzed after classifying isolates according to the marker genes present and according to packing plant. In this study, hide samples positive for E. coli O157:H7 were traced to other E. coli O157:H7–positive hide, colon, feedlot pen floor fecal, packing plant holding pen drinking water, and transport trailer side wall samples. Links were found between packing plant side rails, feedlot loading chutes, and feedlot pens and between truck trailer, different feedlots, and colons of multiple cattle. This study is the first in which genotypic matches have been made between E. coli O157:H7 isolates obtained from transport trailer side walls and those from cattle hide samples within the packing plant.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document