The enzymes of the ammonia assimilation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Glutamine synthetase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa is regulated by repression/derepression of enzyme synthesis and by adenylylation/deadenylylation control. High levels of deadenylylated biosynthetically active glutamine synthetase were observed in cultures growing with limiting amounts of nitrogen while synthesis of the enzyme was repressed and that present was adenylylated in cultures with excess nitrogen.NADP-and NAD-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase could be separated by column chromatography and showed molecular weights of 110,000 and 220,000, respectively. Synthesis of the NADP-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase is repressed under nitrogen limitation and by growth on glutamate. In contrast, NAD-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase is derepressed by glutamate. Glutamate synthase is repressed by glutamate but not by excess nitrogen.     

Biochemical parameters of glutamine synthetase from Klebsiella aerogenes.

The glutamine synthetase (GS) from Klebsiella aerogenes is similar to that from Escherichia coli in several respects: (i) it is repressed by high levels of ammonia in the growth medium; (ii) its biosynthetic activity is greatly reduced by adenylylation; and (iii) adenylylation lowers the pH optimum and alters the response of the enzymes to various inhibitors in the gamma-glutamyl transferase (gammaGT) assay. There are, however, several important differences: (i) the isoactivity point for the adenylylated and non-adenylylated forms in the gammaGT assay occurs at pH 7.55 in K. aerogenes and at pH 7.15 in E. coli; (ii) the non-adenylylated form of the GS from K. aerogenes is stimulated by 60 mM MgCl2 in the gammaGT assay at pH 7.15. A biosynthetic reaction assay that correlates well with number of non-adenylylated enzyme subunits, as determined by the method of Mg2+ inhibition of the gammaGT assay, is described. Finally, we have found that it is necessary to use special methods to harvest growing cells to prevent changes in the adenylylation state of GS from occurring during harvesting.     

Regulation of the ammonia assimilatory enzymes in Salmonella typhimurium.

The regulation of glutamate dehydrogenase (EC 1.4.1.4), glutamine synthetase (EC 6.3.1.2), and glutamate synthase (EC 2.6.1.53) was examined for cultures of Salmonella typhimurium grown with various nitrogen and amino acid sources. In contrast to the regulatory pattern observed in Klebsiella aerogenes, the glutamate dehydrogenase levels of S. typhimurium do not decrease when glutamine synthetase is derepressed during growth with limiting ammonia. Thus, it appears that the S. typhimurium glutamine synthetase does not regulate the synthesis of glutamate dehydrogenase as reported for K. aerogenes. The glutamate dehydrogenase activity does increase, however, during growth of a glutamate auxotroph with glutamate as a limiting amino acid source. The regulation of glutamate synthase levels is complex with the enzyme activity decreasing during growth with glutamate as a nitrogen source, and during growth of auxotrophs with either glutamine or glutamate as limiting amino acids.     

Glutamine synthetase of Klebsiella aerogenes: genetic and physiological properties of mutants in the adenylylation system.

Mutations resulting in defects in the adenylylation system of glutamine synthetase (GS) affect the expression of glnA, the structural gene for GS. Mutants with lesions in glnB are glutamine auxotrophs and contain repressed levels of highly adenylylated GS. Glutamine-independent revertants of the glnB3 mutant have acquired an additional mutation at the glnE site. The glnE54 mutant is incapable of adenylylating GS and produces high levels of enzyme, even when ammonia is present in the growth medium. The fact that mutations in glnB and glnE simultaneously disturb both the normal adenylylation and repression patterns of GS in Klebsiella aerogenes indicates that the adenylylation system, or adenylylation state, of GS is critical for the regulation of synthesis of GS.     

Relation between the adenylylation state of glutamine synthetase and the expression of other genes involved in nitrogen metabolism.

We have partially characterized the biochemical parameters of glutamine synthetase from Klebsiella pneumoniae and have shown that the differential affinity of adenylylated and unadenylylated glutamine synthetase for adenosine diphosphate provides a convenient means of determining the adenylylation state. Using this assay procedure, we examined the relationship between the adenylylation state and the expression of other genes involved in nitrogen assimilation. We observed no correlation between the adenylylation state and the expression of histidase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthase, glutamate dehydrogenase, and urease in aerobic cultures.     

Regulation of enzyme formation in Klebsiella aerogenes by episomal glutamine synthetase of Escherichia coli.

We studied the physiology of cells of Klebsiella aerogenes containing the structural gene for glutamine synthetase (glnA) of Escherichia coli on an episome. The E. coli glutamine synthetase functioned in cells of K. aerogenes in a manner similar to that of the K. aerogenes enzyme: it allowed the level of histidase to increase and that of glutamate dehydrogenase to decrease during nitrogen-limited growth. The phenotype of mutations in the glnA site was restored to normal by the introduction of the episomal glnA+ gene. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that glutamine synthetase regulates the function of its own structural gene.     

Glutamine synthetase of pseudomonads: some biochemical and physicochemical properties.

The glutamine synthetases from several Pseudomonas species were purified to homogeneity, and their properties were compared with those reported for the enzymes from Escherichia coli and other gram-negative bacteria. The glutamine synthetase from Pseudomonas fluorescens was unique because it was nearly precipitated quantitatively as a homogeneous protein during dialysis of partially purified preparations against buffer containing 10 mM imidazole (pH 7.0) and 10 mM MnCl2. The glutamine synthetases from Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were purified by affinity chromatography on Affi-blue gel. Dodecamerous forms of the E. coli and P. fluorescens glutamine synthetases had identical mobilities during polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Their dissociated subunits, however, migrated differently and were readily separated by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels containing 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate. This difference in subunit mobilities is not related to the state of adenylylation. Regulation of the Pseudomonas glutamine synthetase activity is mediated by an adenylylation-deadenylylation cyclic cascade system. A sensitive procedure was developed for measuring the average number of adenylylated subunits per enzyme molecule for the glutamine synthetase from P. fluorescens. This method takes advantage of the large differences in transferase activity of the adenylylated and unadenylylated subunits at pH 6.0 and of the fact that the activities of both kinds of subunits are the same at pH 8.45.     

Adenylylation and catalytic properties of Mycobacterium tuberculosis glutamine synthetase expressed in Escherichia coli versus mycobacteria

Bacterial glutamine synthetases (GSs) are complex dodecameric oligomers that play a critical role in nitrogen metabolism, converting ammonia and glutamate to glutamine. Recently published reports suggest that GS from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) may be a therapeutic target (Harth, G., and Horwitz, M. A. (2003) Infect. Immun. 71, 456-464). In some bacteria, GS is regulated via adenylylation of some or all of the subunits within the aggregate; catalytic activity is inversely proportional to the extent of adenylylation. The adenylylation and deadenylylation of GS are catalyzed by adenylyl transferase (ATase). Here, we demonstrate via electrospray ionization mass spectrometry that GS from pathogenic M. tuberculosis is adenylylated by the Escherichia coli ATase. The adenylyl group can be hydrolyzed by snake venom phosphodiesterase to afford the unmodified enzyme. The site of adenylylation of MTb GS by the E. coli ATase is Tyr-406, as indicated by the lack of adenylylation of the Y406F mutant, and, as expected, is based on amino acid sequence alignments. Using electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy methodology, we found that GS is not adenylylated when obtained directly from MTb cultures that are not supplemented with glutamine. Under these conditions, the highly related but non-pathogenic Mycobacterium bovis BCG yields partially ( approximately 25%) adenylylated enzyme. Upon the addition of glutamine to the cultures, the MTb GS becomes significantly adenylylated ( approximately 30%), whereas the adenylylation of M. bovis BCG GS does not change. Collectively, the results demonstrate that MTb GS is a substrate for E. coli ATase, but only low adenylylation states are accessible. This parallels the low adenylylation states observed for GS from mycobacteria and suggests the intriguing possibility that adenylylation in the pathogenic versus non-pathogenic mycobacteria is differentially regulated.     

Glutamine synthetase adenylylation in permeabilized cells of Escherichia coli

Following a freeze-thaw cycle, treatment of Escherichia coli with the nonionic detergent, Lubrol WX, renders the cells permeable to small molecules but not to cytosolic proteins. After such treatment, the permeabilized cell suspensions can be assayed directly by standard procedures both for intracellular levels of glutamine synthetase and the state of adenylylation (i.e. the average number, n, of adenylylated subunits/dodecameric molecule). Permeabilization of cells from cultures containing an adequate supply of glutamine as the sole nitrogen source led to complete retention of all protein components of the bicyclic cascade that regulates the interconversion of glutamine synthetase between adenylylated and unadenylylated forms; similar treatment of glutamine-starved cells leads to selective inactivation, only, of the uridylyltransferase. When suspended in buffers containing ATP and glutamine, the value of n in permeabilized cells increased to high values (n = 11), whereas in the presence of alpha-ketoglutarate, Pi, and ATP, the value of n decreased to approximately 2.0. Time-dependent changes in n that occur during incubations of permeabilized cells in buffers containing these effectors can be arrested either by sonication at 0-4 degrees C or by the addition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (to inactivate adenylyltransferase). It is thus evident that Lubrol-treated cells may be used to investigate the regulation of glutamine synthetase adenylylation in situ.     

林肯链霉菌谷氨酰胺合成酶活力调节的研究

对不同氮源生长条件下林肯链霉菌无细胞粗提液中谷氨酰胺合成酶 (GS)的研究结果表明 ,高浓度NH+4阻遏了GS的生物合成。从不同氮源生长条件下林肯链霉菌中分离纯化了GS ,其性质没有差别。以受腺苷化调节的产气克雷伯氏菌GS作对照 ,林肯链霉菌GS没有明显的氨休克作用 ,经蛇毒磷酸二酯酶处理后 ,其活力没有变化。这些结果都说明林肯链霉菌GS不存在腺苷化共价修饰这一调节方式。反馈抑制作用是林肯链霉菌GS的一种重要的调节方式 ,这种抑制作用是以累积的方式进行的 ,这表明各种抑制剂对GS作用位点不同 ,各种抑制剂对GS的抑制作用是相互独立的。由此推测 ,林肯链霉菌GS是一种变构酶。     

Nitrogen assimilation in facultative methylotrophic bacteria

A study was done of the pathways of nitrogen assimilation in the facultative methylotrophsPseudomonas MA andPseudomonas AM1, with ammonia or methylamine as nitrogen sources and with methylamine or succinate as carbon sources. When methylamine was the sole carbon and/or nitrogen source, both organisms possessed enzymes of the glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase pathway, but when ammonia was the nitrogen sourcePseudomonas AM1 also synthesized glutamate dehydrogenase with a pH optimum of 9.0, andPseudomonas MA elaborated both glutamate dehydrogenase (pH optimum 7.5) and alanine dehydrogenase (pH optimum 9.0). Glutamate dehydrogenase and glutamate synthase from both organisms were solely NADPH-dependent; alanine dehydrogenase was NADH-dependent. No evidence was obtained for regulation of glutamine synthetase by adenylylation in either organism, nor did glutamine synthetase appear to regulate glutamate dehydrogenase synthesis.     

Urease of Klebsiella aerogenes: control of its synthesis by glutamine synthetase.

Urease was purified 24-fold from extracts of Klebsiella aerogenes. The enzyme has a molecular weight of 230,000 as determined by gel filtration, is highly substrate specific, and has a Km for urea of 0.7 mM. A mutant strain lacking urease was isolated; it failed to grow with urea as the sole source of nitrogen but did grow on media containing other nitrogen sources such as ammonia, histidine, or arginine. Urease was present at a high level when the cells were starved for nitrogen; its synthesis was repressed when the external ammonia concentration was high. Formation of urease did not require induction by urea and was not subject to catabolite repression. Its synthesis was controlled by glutamine synthetase. Mutants lacking glutamine synthetase failed to produce urease, and mutants forming glutamine synthetase at a high constitutive level also formed urease constitutively. Thus, the formation of urease is regulated like that of other enzymes of K. aerogenes capable of supplying the cell with ammonia or glutamate.     

The role of ammonia, L-glutamate, and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in the regulation of ammonia assimilation in Rhizobium japonicum.

The effects of three factors (ammonia, L-glutamate, and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate) on the ammonia assimilatory processes in aerobically grown Rhizobium japonicum colony derivatives were examined. Ammonia repressed glutamine synthetase activity and increased the average state of adenylylation of this enzyme. The addition of L-glutamate drastically decreased growth and strongly repressed glutamate synthase levels. Glutamine synthetase repression and adenylylation state were also increased by L-glutamate. The presence of cyclic AMP led to the repression of all three NH+4 assimilatory enzymes.     

Molecular and regulatory properties of glutamine synthetase from the phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas capsulata E1F1.

The glutamine synthetase of the phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas capsulata E1F1 was purified to homogeneity by a procedure which used a single affinity chromatography step. Like enzymes from other photosynthetic procaryotes, native glutamine synthetase from R. capsulata E1F1 was found to be a dodecameric protein of approximately 660 kilodaltons with identical subunits of about 55 kilodaltons each. The Stokes radius and S20,w of the native enzyme were 8.35 nm and 19.20, respectively. The enzyme exhibited different aggregation states with detectable oligomers of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 subunits. Disaggregation of the glutamine synthetase occurred after the native protein was subjected to electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels, as well as occurring spontaneously at low ionic strength. Glutamine synthetase from R. capsulata E1F1 was regulated by an adenylylation-deadenylylation mechanism, and the adenylylation state of the protein depended on the nitrogen source, growth phase, and light intensity. Ammonia repressed glutamine synthetase, whereas glycine, serine, alanine, valine, and aspartate were noncompetitive inhibitors of the glutamine synthetase biosynthetic activity.     

Glutamine Synthetase Regulation, Adenylylation State, and Strain Specificity Analyzed by Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis

We used polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to examine the regulation and adenylylation states of glutamine synthetases (GSs) from Escherichia coli (GS(E)) and Klebsiella aerogenes (GS(K)). In gels containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), we found that GS(K) had a mobility which differed significantly from that of GS(E). In addition, for both GS(K) and GS(E), adenylylated subunits (GS(K)-adenosine 5'-monophosphate [AMP] and GS(E)-AMP) had lesser mobilities in SDS gels than did the corresponding non-adenylylated subunits. The order of mobilities was GS(K)-AMP < GS(K) < GS(E)-AMP < GS(E). We were able to detect these mobility differences with purified and partially purified preparations of GS, crude cell extracts, and whole cell lysates. SDS gel electrophoresis thus provided a means of estimating the adenylylation state and the quantity of GS present independent of enzymatic activity measurements and of determining the strain origin. Using SDS gels, we showed that: (i) the constitutively produced GS in strains carrying the glnA4 allele was mostly adenylylated, (ii) the GS-like polypeptide produced by strains carrying the glnA51 allele was indistinguishable from wild-type GS(K), and (iii) strains carrying the glnA10 allele contained no polypeptide having the mobility of GS(K) or GS(K)-AMP. Using native polyacrylamide gels, we detected the increased amount of dodecameric GS present in cells grown under nitrogen limitation compared with cells grown under conditions of nitrogen excess. In native gels there was neither a significant difference in the mobilities of adenylylated and non-adenylylated GSs nor a GS-like protein in cells carrying the glnA10 allele.     

Ammonia assimilation and glutamate formation in Caulobacter crescentus.

In the dimorphic bacterium Caulobacter crescentus, ammonia assimilation occurs only via the combined action of the enzymes glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthase. Mutants auxotrophic for glutamate lacked glutamate synthase activity, and the mutations leading to the glutamate auxotrophy appeared to lie at two distinct genetic loci. Both glutamate synthase and glutamine synthetase activities were subject to regulation by repression. Glutamate synthase activity was highest in cultures grown in minimal medium with ammonia as sole nitrogen source and was about fivefold lower in rich broth. Glutamine synthetase activity was highest in cells grown with growth-rate-limiting amounts of ammonia as nitrogen source and was about fourfold lower in rich broth. In addition, glutamine synthetase activity appeared to be regulated by an adenylylation system like that described for Escherichia coli.     

Regulation of urease and ammonia assimilatory enzymes in Selenomonas ruminantium.

Urease and glutamine synthetase activities in Selenomonas ruminantium strain D were highest in cells grown in ammonia-limited, linear-growth cultures or when certain compounds other than ammonia served as the nitrogen source and limited the growth rate in batch cultures. Glutamate dehydrogenase activity was highest during glucose (energy)-limited growth or when ammonia was not growth limiting. A positive correlation (R = 0.96) between glutamine synthetase and urease activities was observed for a variety of growth conditions, and both enzyme activities were simultaneously repressed when excess ammonia was added to ammonia-limited, linear-growth cultures. The glutamate analog methionine sulfoximine (MSX), inhibited glutamine synthetase activity in vitro, but glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamate synthase, and urease activities were not affected. The addition of MSX (0.1 to 100 mM) to cultures growing with 20 mM ammonia resulted in growth rate inhibition that was dependent upon the concentration of MSX and was overcome by glutamine addition. Urease activity in MSX-inhibited cultures was increased significantly, suggesting that ammonia was not the direct repressor of urease activity. In ammonia-limited, linear-growth cultures, MSX addition resulted in growth inhibition, a decrease in GS activity, and an increase in urease activity. These results are discussed with respect to the importance of glutamine synthetase and glutamate dehydrogenase for ammonia assimilation under different growth conditions and the relationship of these enzymes to urease.     

Enzymes of ammonia assimilation and their regulation inAzospirillum lipoferum strain D-2

Azospirillum lipoferum strain D-2 possesses the following enzymes for the assimilation of N₂ and NH ₄ ⁺ : nitrogenase, glutamine synthetase, NADPH-dependent glutamate synthase, NADH-/NADPH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase, and NADH-dependent alanine dehydrogenase. Nitrogenase and glutamine synthetase are repressed, whereas glutamate dehydrogenase and alanine dehydrogenase are induced by NH ₄ ⁺ . Glutamine synthetase activity is modulated by both repression and depression and also by adenylylation.     

Purification of PII and PII-UMP and In Vitro Studies of Regulation of Glutamine Synthetase in Rhodospirillum rubrum

The P(II) protein from Rhodospirillum rubrum was fused with a histidine tag, overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and purified by Ni(2+)-chelating chromatography. The uridylylated form of the P(II) protein could be generated in E. coli. The effects on the regulation of glutamine synthetase by P(II), P(II)-UMP, glutamine, and alpha-ketoglutarate were studied in extracts from R. rubrum grown under different conditions. P(II) and glutamine were shown to stimulate the ATP-dependent inactivation (adenylylation) of glutamine synthetase, which could be totally inhibited by alpha-ketoglutarate. Deadenylylation (activation) of glutamine synthetase required phosphate, but none of the effectors studied had any major effect, which is different from their role in the E. coli system. In addition, deadenylylation was found to be much slower than adenylylation under the conditions investigated.